One doesn’t usually think of dormancy as an active response to a situation. It is common to recognize dormancy in bears and frogs and of course in the plant world where endless species shut down to a dormant, death-like state for the winter. Even Homo can use dormancy, a dormancy with gradations.

For the last two weeks of zero temperatures, sleet, bitter winds and snow, mariner chooses to be a bear – almost. He does sleep a lot more, a privilege of being a retired bear, but he is restrained to his lair. He peers out the window of his lair to see a barren, white world. The only sound is the wind whistling against the window.

It would be nice if, like the bear, Homo could gather fat in warmer times then use it to pay for heat in the winter.

Homo has learned to use dormancy as a tool. For example, attics and basements are put in a state of dormancy on purpose. Another example is spring cleaning. Does this mean we would be a dirty bear all winter? Of course not – we borrowed this style of dormancy from the frog who hibernates in soft muck just below the frost line.

In the final analysis, though, Homos aren’t hibernators. If Homos aren’t careful about their style of dormancy, that word converts to loneliness, depression and even ill health. Homos are forced to continue to live an active life that energizes, that socializes, that sees the end of dormancy. Otherwise, we live the life of the sparrows, many of which don’t make it to greener times.

Ancient Mariner