Newmann: On the periphery
“These are the times that can try people’s souls … and fry their brains.” — ANON
Well, what a week it’s been. And it’s not even over.
In the last few days, almost all the members of our top military brass have been flown to Washington from all over the world to hear a massive “pep” talk.
We’ve also endured a government shutdown, orchestrated by the wizards of Congress. Talk about representing the will of the people. Or not. But, then again, the legislative branch might just have a worse overall record than the Colorado Rockies.
Meanwhile, tariffs are driving prices up, masked men are driving people out and generals are under strict orders not to be corpulent (wonder if that order goes all the way up to the top of the chain?).
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Amid some of the chaos from without, we seem to be relatively sane within our little valley. Sure, we still have the spectrum of tariffs. And of masked men.
But our local governments are still up and running, a fact that most of us never pay attention to … unless those governments are not up and running. We haven’t appeared to experience massive declines in our public services. And where we previously might have been a bit miffed about the various traffic delays around the area due to road construction … well, now those delays might be cause to rejoice since the roads are still actually being constructed — and are not shut down.
Folks are generally respectful of one another and, even though there may be differences of opinions on many subjects, we don’t seem to have divides deep enough to cause some of the major frictions or factions that other parts of the nation have experienced.
Crime is not rampant, so there’s really no excuse to order federal troops into the valley … unless they could be used to help with the ongoing road construction. Or join with Habitat for Humanity in putting up a few more homes. But, since we seem to be doing pretty well on our own, probably best to keep the current status quo and let the troops remain on their bases.
However, if any government forces are to be sent our way, we could use a few more U.S. Forest Service employees. The scope of the national forest terrain in our valley has not diminished, but the folks who look after that terrain have. Somewhat dramatically. So, if the government ever starts up again, maybe the folks there could see their way clear to rehire a few of the former Forest Service employees — and send them in our direction.
The diversity of the valley is one of its strengths. We don’t tend toward xenophobia or scapegoating. Instead, we’re pretty laissez-faire. People generally just go on about their own business and let other folks do the same.
So, while some of the weird situations play out around us — and even though some of those situations might have an effect on us — we’re still in a relatively calm atmosphere.
Let’s just keep calm and carry on.
Hope that the wizards in Washington can follow our lead.
Tom Newmann splits his time between Edwards and Queenstown, New Zealand. He has been going winter-to-winter since 1986. He was also a journalist in Missoula, Montana, at the Missoulian for quite a few years. Email him at tsnnz12@gmail.com.
