Who Is John Galt?!

I got to read my pal Ayn Rand's work a couple of years ago.
I call her "pal" because I suspect we could have been
After all, most of my life I have been most fascinated by,
And closest to...eccentrics - including innovators mainly among them...(you know who you are)

I was so impressed with her beautifully developed, provocative work I wrote six, yes six stories about it. 
In rough order:

Atlas is Shrugging

Ine* Rand 678, Ine* 679

Lemon Rineand

Crow On Fifty (Ayn - the last installment)

Ayn Rand Redux

Atlas Shrugged

('dis be the seventh for those keeping count)

I think, in this day and age, Ayn would have mixed emotions at what she would see:

• A Congress in inertia 
• A President rendered impotent by checks and balances that are not working properly 
• A populace that has tired of economic abuses and the inability of its elected officials to correct the course 
• A national moral compass that fires our youth and our money erratically toward other nations

My favorite Rand work, "Atlas Shrugged" focuses on two key factors, an elected body that is so controlling that it destroys our economic base and entrepreneurs who leave the disaster behind to establish a utopian free-enterprise system.  Many people believe she correctly pointed to our current government as too large and too anti-business... this may be true in some respects.

Yet I think the main thing in Ayn's novel that does not adequately mirror reality is the assumption that business can grow and prosper better if unregulated and that corporations will function ethically if left entirely to their own devices.  If this same logic were applied to the flip side of Ayn's thinking, the government would be fine if we just installed politicians and then left them alone to pass laws of their own choosing and find their own successors.

I think...even my pal Ayn Rand would agree these guys have screwed us up big time.  She knew the only way to "Fix it" was to drop all the ethical (emphasis on ethical) entrepreneurs into a remote valley no one else could find and let them peddle their wares among each other.  We don't have any hidden valleys, we have  our entire country and the whole world to contend with. Everyone world wide has their eye on our moral compass and that is as it should be because we have long taken pride in setting the standard.

The problem is now we have let standards slip and fall into moral crevices on many fronts such as; considering torture permissible, starting wars without factual justification, saddling our children with over $3 trillion in war debt without identifying the means to pay,  giving corporations the benefit of the doubt ahead of the public voice, giving corporations and politicians a pass on investigating and prosecuting illegal activities.

Now, I wonder what Ayn would say to our leaders in business and politics today?  Maybe something like this; "Listen you idiots, I used my imagination and wrote novels. Fiction is what they were. Nothing more.  You, on the other hand, are writing history and you are doing a lousy job of it.  Snap out of it. You are both far too embedded in greed and egotism.  You are destroying your children's future." Okay, okay, maybe she would have taken 1,000 pages to relay that message but I think it would have summed up the same.

So what's to conclude?  There is much work to do of course, and our generation doesn't appear to have the cajones to do it.  Instead, we will have to wait on our sons and daughters to save us, and themselves. God, please be with them.

The Drift Of Things

draw dead - heater
flood - drought
feast - famine
good - bad
rain - shine
ying - yang
day - night
ebb - flow
up - down
high - low
hot - cold
win - lose

The drift of things...

Letter To Charlie

The Occasion: Colonel Charles Brown, USAF, MSC Retirement
The Recalled Location: Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho
The Players: Major Charlie Brown, Administrator; Jerry Salsberry (RIP), GS Medical Supply; Lt Jack Ohl, Box Kicker; Lt Tom Campbell, Counter of Beans. 
The Letter:

September 8, 1993


Charles W. Brown III, Colonel, USAF, MSC
Administrator, 4th Medical Group
PSC 41, Box 4465
APO AE 09464

Dear Charlie,

Yesterday, I received a note postmarked San Antonio, Sept. 4, 1993. The note announced your retirement ceremony on the sixteenth and suggested return mail be posted a week to ten days early to arrive in time. My reckoning says I should have mailed this yesterday and, once again my good friend, we are behind the power curve. Just like the good old days right partner?

Charlie and his XR 250
Sagebrush grows like a bush with pretty sturdy branches
You don't ordinarily want to run into it
Notice branch stuck into foot peg
Notice road rash on right forearm
Notice medicinal Michelob in left hand
Notice cheese-eatin' grin - this is why you never see
a motorcycle parked in front of a psychiatrist's office

For mostly selfish reasons, I dreaded this news though I have been expecting it for some time. It strikes me as the passing of an era marked by hard work, hard play, trust and spirit. The moment began to pass when we began going separate ways from our (hospital administration and dirt bike riding days) in Idaho and it hasn't been quite the same since. Most of all, I miss the trust and the spirit. Of course, it's sad but it's also a chance to reflect on some great moments and our good fortune to have shared those times.

(As I reflect back), I see Jerry Salsberry at the rim of Bruneau Canyon, with a row of perfect (false) teeth grinning from ear to ear and his eyes gleaming with excitement. Old "Leadbelly" is wearing his crumpled tan felt cowboy hat and he is astride a mass of "thumper," what was once a Honda XL250 dirt bike.

It's really amazing but the thumper is running.... running strong and reverberating like the heartbeat of a giant in some vast, empty building.

Every now and then Leadbelly cranks the throttle, making the thumps echo off the canyon walls.  He's getting ready to descend into the canyon.  The bike is (precariously) balanced on the first of several large and ominous looking stair step rocks that mark the first forty or fifty feet down a steep, mile long road.  To a couple of rookie riders, say someone (you) on a green 125 Kawasaki, or a Honda TL 125 trials bike (me) it looks like a dangerous undertaking.  After all, it seems pretty clear that once the descent begins you have to go all the way.  It looks far too steep to turn around and return in the middle.  The two or three hundred foot drop straight down the canyon wall on the right side most of the way doesn't look too inviting either.

Old Leadbelly is looking back at you  once in a while.  And he is saying; "C'mon Charlie! It's a new chapter unfolding in a wonderful life.  Go ahead, look behind ya' and tell'em all thanks and you won't forget'em.  That's the proper thing to do.  But then, look with me toward tomorrow.  Jack and Tom are already there and those two bastards are having a great time.  C'mon?  We all love ya' and we want you with us... seein' what there is to see."

L-R Tom, Jack, Charlie, Leadbelly
Idaho trip into Devil's Hole, circa 1977
Charlie and Tom have duct tape on bridge of glasses
This is to keep dust out and vision semi-clear
A few years later, Leadbelly would go to sing with the Angels

And then Leadbelly says; "When we get there, I'll be leaving you for a spell to head on down the trail. You, Jack and Tom can catch up with me later. In the meantime, you guys take good care of your families and Charlie, one of these years I'll see you in the Canyon again right after run-off... sometime in the late spring right?!" Then he cranks up the thumper and one of his belly laughs simultaneously and the thunder echoes off the canyon walls clear down the Bruneau river to the Snake river and on into Oregon...

Congratulations on your imminent departure to a new and great adventure.  The Medical Service Corps is losing a great leader.  We miss you and hope to see you soon.

Love,
Julieann and Tom Campbell

Leadbelly and Tom C workin' it at the Bruneau Canyon campfire.

(Letter taken from original with minor edits and addition of photos. Charlie was about to retire from the US Air Force Medical Service Corps.  Jack and Tom had preceeded him. Leadbelly had passed away in his early fifties - from smoking, booze and living life maybe a little too large but could he ever sing!!. He had a classic deep-tone voice that made "Long Black Veil" into something not of this earth.  There was never a camp fire he didn't light up with his music.)

Eye To Eye

Eye to eye
Loving the sea breeze
At the Bay Area's Treasure Island

A quiet afternoon
She was just three, or four
Playing around on
Mom and Dad's bed
Mom was at work
He was nearby in the living room
Watching afternoon television

Then he noticed her
Standing in the foyer
Silent...looking at him
Clutching her throat
Looking desperate

It happened in seconds
For some reason he instinctively knew

There was CPR training
Years before
He recalled the unique method
Of clearing an infant's airway

He picked her up, legs and torso on his forearm
Face down and hanging over the edge of his fingertips
Pointed her slightly downward
He thumped her on the center of her back

A marble, one of her big brother's, immediately dislodged
Clattered on the tile entry and rolled
Clickety-clack from tile to tile, to the door

He sat her down on the kitchen counter
And stooped slightly
To look at her...eye to eye
Searching for signs of further distress
Neither spoke
Tears formed and ran down her cheeks

Two years later...

They headed to Boreal ski resort
A father/daughter day
On the slopes with freshly falling snow

Five and fearless...
At Boreal

She newly taught and fearless

He looking on, followed behind
And worried she would crash
But was awestruck
At how well she took to it

They went to lunch at the lodge
He had forgotten his credit card
And sufficient cash
All they could afford that day
Was a hot chocolate to split

There were outside counters
Chest high to him
He sat her there

They chatted...eye to eye
While sharing tiny sips
Of the best hot chocolate
Either one would likely have in their lifetime