This I Believe

I believe in the human spirit. Each of us has the power to do what we want to the best our abilities. We may not be the best, as many will have the better natural talent, luck, or opportunities, but we can still do what we can. I believe we can only achieve this because of our democracy, which I believe has the responsibility to provide for opportunity for everyone. We need to remember and be grateful our democracy was created work for the whole nation and society, and all of the people while protecting individual rights. That is the beauty and power of our democracy, something I’ve learned in the last 36-plus years since starting my life after high school.

When I was 19, the University of Denver let me know my freshman year of probation was over and I wouldn’t be allowed to attend the College of Engineering again. My father and I sat down for a conversation about my future. His advise was short and simple, “Son, I want you to have a life, just don’t have it here.” It was 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War and the draft, and shortly after the University informed the Army, I was classified 1-A after my physical. They began sending me those letters young men at the time didn’t like getting. As my father had retired from the Air Force, I enlisted in the Air Force. The next four years was a time where I grew as an individual and acquired an understanding and respect for our democracy and country.

After my discharge in 1973, the G.I. Bill afforded me the opportunity to get Bachelor and Master degrees in Geography, and start my career with the U.S. Geological Survey. I have had a wonderful 27-year career in public service, participating in some extraordinary natural events, one being part of the team in involved in the study Mount Saint Helens after the eruption in May 1980. And now near the end of my career, I look forward to continuing my second career as a large format nature and landscape photographer and do whatever else interests me to learn and do.

Throughout my life and career I have come to believe we don’t thank our democracy enough. We celebrate it frequently including the July 4th holiday, and every day in small ways. But I wonder sometimes how oft en we realize we have a wonderful nation if we exercise the power of the individual and our democracy for the greater good of everyone. We are a diverse society and nation, from those in the worst straits imaginable to the very rich. Most of us, however, work to get by, save a little money for our children, emergenices and retirement, and enjoy life. And we continue to know things will get better for us and the nation. Yet, how often do we simply give thanks for that and the opportunity to be here now?

The idea put forth by John Nash in his doctoral dissertation is that people can act in their own self-interest for the benefit of all. Sometimes I think we forget to follow this principle in our democracy, to act for the benefit of all of us, which in turns benefits us. We can practice this everyday if we choose. We only need to choose to do so. It’s something we can do everyday from the very small to the very important. We can overcome divisiveness with tolerance and understanding. We only need to set aside the language of divisiveness and talk of all the people.

I enjoy watching people during my walk around the downtown where I work, especially seeing the diversity of people and lives from the transients barely getting by to the rest of us trying to make a better life. One day I had the opportunity to talk to one of the transients, and I realized we each had chosen our paths, and maybe, sometimes, followed the path we wouldn’t have chosen had we known better, but we met for a short time facing our ourselves as individuals and as part of our society, nation, and democracy. The power each of us have has always been there, and to improve our life had we chosen.

I remember in my younger days sitting in a fast food restaurant in San Francisco. At the table was a diversity of people where we discussed the nature of the world we lived. Everyone was enjoying the company and respectful of others and their views. I think we have forgotten we are everyone in our democracy, no more and no less, something we need to be reminded of from time to time. And give thanks it’s our democracy. I know I am and will always be grateful.