Leadership Quote by Tom Allen

Winter is doing a lot of political work here: it’s not weather, it’s a moral gym. Tom Allen’s line repackages hardship as a civic asset, turning an inevitable inconvenience into a chosen identity. The diction matters. “Relish” concedes what everyone feels about summer - pleasure, ease, abundance - but it’s framed almost as dessert. The real meal is winter: “forms our character” carries the quiet Calvinist undertone of discipline and self-denial, the idea that virtue is earned through discomfort. That’s a flattering story to tell constituents who shovel, commute in the dark, and pay heating bills: your struggle isn’t just annoying, it’s meaningful.

The subtext is regional branding and political reassurance. In northern states (and Allen’s Maine is the model), winter becomes a shorthand for seriousness: pragmatic, neighborly, resilient. “Brings out our best” nods to the social rituals of adversity - plowing each other out, checking on older neighbors, towns pulling together when the power goes. It also sidesteps the less photogenic truths: winter can isolate, bankrupt, and endanger. Politically, that omission is the point. The quote invites voters to see themselves as hardy protagonists rather than victims of infrastructure failures or rising energy costs.

It’s also a soft counterargument to the lure of leaving. If winter “forms” you, then enduring it isn’t just tolerable; it’s part of belonging. That’s how a seasonal complaint gets converted into civic pride.