Closing the Door

"The nights are colder now
Maybe I should close the door
And anyway the snow has covered all your footsteps
I can follow you no more..."
-From the song 'A Winter's Tale,' by David Essex

Those lines have disturbed my Spouse and I for as long as we have known each other and listened to that tune together. We had both heard it before but our combined efforts and four ears enabled us to hear those words in a new, and emphatically unforgiving light.
"Of course you should close the door: all the heat is getting out!" I have the urge to cry when e'er I hear that song.
I am hopelessly and categorically unromantic but even I can see what the lyric probably meant to convey: his loneliness and resignation. However, while I know he was not thinking of frugality, the line transcends beyond his personal story and becomes more symbolic of a careless way of living.
As far as I can fathom, it perfectly represents the foolishness of spendthrifts, and careless waste. To give one example: what could be the point of saving pennies in the supermarket if one does not bother to inspect the receipts to check for errors?
Likewise, one would not actively burn money in a furnace but apparently many people do, every day, and it is truly frightening.
Speaking from a more literal, and environmental point of view, closing the door is but the first and most obvious step to cleaner and more efficient living.

The cold weather has just arrived here and we plan to caulk, or seal up, our windows so that no chill gets in. Then and only then can we happily switch on our heat with the certain knowledge that we are not wasting precious money or energy. It might seem blindingly evident what needs to be done in terms of money or energy saving but we all think differently and approach things from unique angles.