“Western wind, when will thou blow…“
16th century English poet
A west wind is a wind that blows from the west, in an eastward direction. In Western tradition, it has usually been considered the mildest and most favorable of the directional winds.
In Greek mythology, Zephyrus was the personification of the west wind and the bringer of light spring and early summer breezes; his Roman equivalent was Favonius (hence the adjective favonian, pertaining to the west wind). In the myth of Cupid and Psyche, Zephyrus was the attendant of Cupid, who brought Psyche to his master’s palace.
Geoffrey Chaucer wrote of the “swete breth” of Zephyrus, and a soft, gentle breeze may be referred to as a zephyr, as in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline(IV, ii):
“They are as gentle / As zephyrs blowing below the violet, / Not wagging his sweet head.”
Like Chaucer, this website also celebrates a western wind, a wind that has for eons nourished the western coast of America.
To us the Western Wind is a wonderful metaphor for a nation’s renewal.
It is a symbol of our own western traditions, traditions that have for centuries nourished the soil of America by nourishing the mind of Americans. In America we plan before we till.
Our ideas are the source of our unity because they stand on a common ground: the truth. Our science and studies, as well as our policies and laws, share the same reasoning , the same requirement for proofs. This is why we have public schools and public school teachers, to cultivate our common understandings and assumptions about truth.
Questions to ponder as we move towards restoration and the healing influence of a western wind:
Does the truth favor both sides?
Why do nonpartisans favor both sides?
Which do tyrants favor the truth or both sides of the truth?