“If winter is slumber and spring is birth, and summer is life, then autumn rounds out to be reflection. It’s a time of year when the leaves are down and the harvest is in and the perennials are gone. Mother Earth just closed up the drapes on another year and it’s time to reflect on what’s come before.” - Mitchell Burgess

Time flew by. It’s suddenly October 2020 and the season is quickly changing to autumn. Looking out the window, the pink cherry blossoms of spring and the green leaves of summer fell to the ground powerlessly as if they were dying. The life revived in spring is to be completed and enriched in the fall after the summer's prosperity, ending a seasonal cycle. Humans accept this aspect of the seasons as a transition between life and the world and feel the flow of time through nature. When COVID-19 first appeared, I thought it would be over soon, but at a terrifying pace, it devastated people's lives. And now in October, already there has been a lot of damage left. People who cannot go out and must stay indoors in this stifling situation, we, too, need to enjoy some "relaxation."

“I cannot endure to waste anything so precious as autumnal sunshine by standing in the house.”

How can we enjoy relaxation? Have you ever just stood still looking out? When I look at the light that enters the window, slightly open at night, or the clouds that flow peacefully by in the blue sky, I feel as if the busy time has stopped for a while. Although it is impossible to go out or meet people right now because of the virus, it is possible to enjoy the warmth of the autumn sun from the pale blue sky. It is also possible to look at the clouds flowing from the dark night sky. At a time when you can easily miss things around you because you stay indoors all day, let's look out the window and enjoy the pale blue autumn sky. What is indispensable in autumn is the fall foliage. As autumn comes, the flowers that bloomed in summer begin to fall slowly, but the leaves wear red and yellow clothes, making the trees look like they are wearing new clothes. Novelist Albert Camus described it as the second spring when all the leaves become flowers. The autumn colors that change the world from green to beautiful orange, and the autumn foliage is seen as the flower of autumn. Why don't you spend time in the fall, the second spring, with the various stories in this month’s Herald?