Fireside Chat

You know who your friends are after a 50-mile hike. Days without bathing in the heat of summer, sharing the load of food, water and shelter.

Along the way, you stop for meals and overnight slumber. In between, you sit by the campfire and talk.

In the talk, you strengthen the bonds that link you together.

I hiked along the Appalachian Trail with such friends. We discussed many issues, including who creates and who consumes the popular music of our time, what it means to be a nation-state and whether we should let mosquitoes bite us rather than coat our skin with chemical sprays/lotions.

Do you consume popular music?

What is a nation-state?

Are you part of the ecosystem and thus willing to let a mosquito take your blood?

Questions like these provide entertainment for days, all while you pick your way across boulders, tree roots, creeks, and ledges, identifying familiar plants and animals along the trail and recording new species for later dissemination.

One issue that creeps into conversation right now is the debate in the U.S. over national health care coverage. If the U.S. wants to claim leadership on world-worthy projects, should domestic issues dominate the local news? Should the president bring the fight over health care to the people or bring the people to the fight? In other words, should the president waste his time explaining, as a politician (and politicians rate rather low on the scale of trust in this country), the details of a national health care plan or should he let others more trusted by the people show the benefits of the plan, people who can demonstrate to individual citizens how they will profit from the plan? For example, tell the truth that the health care plan will increase the size of the government as health care costs rise, but at the same time people's 401(k) or other investment portfolios will grow as the private companies in which they invest will find ways to spend the government health care money and increase their bottom line.

I don't care which way the nation-state goes in national health care. Either way, people will profit and people will suffer. The condition, or mindset, of individual members of our species will still run the gamut from greatness to sloth. Health care coverage is like the word diabetes or cancer, meaningful and meaningless at the same time, affecting some people gravely and not making a dent in the lives of others.

Instead of looking at the national health care plan from a macroview, let's put it on the shoulders of our peers and advisors to define exactly the costs and benefits for individuals. If my private insurance premiums go up, can I, as an individual, continue to increase my holdings and get wealthy through the medical industry, even if I have to temporarily give up conspicuous consumption items in the near-term? What are the side consequences? Will outdoor megagrill backyard entertainment centers go by the wayside while our 401(k) accounts go up?

It's the same argument about mosquitoes. There's some risk, almost infinitesimally small in this part of the world, of contracting a deadly disease from a mosquito. Therefore, it benefits the ecosystem by my letting a mosquito take my blood in exchange for a day or two of itching, with my risking a small chance of getting sick or dying, so that the local food chain stays healthy and I can see not only mosquitoes but hawks, bees, flowers, and other forest/meadow benefits to my general wellbeing.

While the pop music industry faces a general decline, I benefit from the decreased overexposure of plastic-coated bands by hearing new acts and new sounds from local bands who get my attention through MySpace, YouTube, last.fm , lowemill.net and other sources. Similarly, a nation-state is an idea perpetuated by those who think it's the only way to keep the global economy together, by having a set of nation-states mutually opposed to each other while keeping hands in each other's pockets. We like diversity on one hand while touting conformity with the other.

The world's not coming to an end. Sure, it's changing but that's okay. Who wants a forest of the same thing over and over again? Trees fall in the forest without anyone hearing them, turning into food for bugs and fungus. We, too, shall die one day, turning over the world to a new generation.

Instead of waiting for the government to bring news of change to you, see what you can do to enjoy the changes of the world around you, including a woodland hike. Make sure you go with friends as well as people you think you disagree with, to enliven the conversation while you all carry each others' food, water, first aid kits, sleeping bags and tents. Have fun. Stand at the top of a mountain and scream out your beliefs. Listen to your voice die in the wind. Listen to your opponent's voice have the same effect. Then sit down and share an apple and trail mix and see how alike we are. Finally, see how you can benefit from each other's differing views. I know you'll both change for the better. Only you can decide whether you'll swat the mosquito off the other person.