Soft Sundays

The wind outside plays with branches but only at the top of the pines, skimming over upthrust needles on it's way someplace else.

Lauren is teaching herself a new song on the piano, listening for the F or the F#. She heads back over the pass to work tomorrow, I stay to tend duties here.

A blog seems like such an indulgence. I am not used to this kind of openness, and am not convinced it’s a good thing. I am old fashioned (just "old," the kids would say) and tend towards privacy. Too much opportunity for abuse, too many words should be deleted before being read by strangers. But my editor insists.

Well, good news/bad news, so far we have no readers.

It's complicated being a left wing, pro-market, gun-shooting, car-racing, gay-rights advocate who believes in universal health care and thinks the minimum wage is a cost shift that will throw poor people out of work. Like money, government is a concept often misunderstood.

Example: It has been suggested that Mt. Hood be closed to winter climbing after three men died last month in a fierce storm that prevented rescuers from finding them since they had decided to go up without a locate beacon.

Please sit down and take a deep breath. Those men, knowledgeable men, made a choice. They died possibly as a result of that choice. They died doing something they loved, for which they had passion.

Picture a set diagram. Those men are a circle (those who choose to climb less prepared) within a circle (those who can climb at that altitude) within a circle (in December). Those who would close the mountain would affect many more than the set which would benefit by the regulation.

To those who say, "Just saving one life is worth whatever it costs," we say, that is absurd.

People have a right to take chances and die. Many lives are lost every day and we do not deprive the entire population of the chance to do the same stupid thing with the same tragic result. We could build cars that would not run without seat belts being locked, or that would not travel faster than 45 mph. We could pull all troops out of Iraq.

We don't. So obviously, we do not as a society think that one life is worth "whatever it takes." Which is good. Because freedom is of life-and-death value, too. Worth dying for, in fact.

Happy New Year to all of you showing up here. May you have a warm cup of cocoa nearby, loved ones within reach and a pleasant week ahead.