One and Only Observer

I feel as though I have a good bead on things. Drop me into a war, or a dystopian climate crisis future, though, and my luxury of having a point of view free from struggling to survive evaporates.

I disagree with most of the strident people in this country wearing red hats. I can’t relate to their anger, hate, and antagonism towards others, echoing what Donald Trump, his acolytes, and certain television, internet, and radio propaganda sources broadcast in a constant firehose stream.

I have no choice but to accept that others have the right to their beliefs and values. They are entitled to their worldview.

Although I call them “mine,” I don’t know where my own values came from. Growing up, some of us absorb our parents’ values as being “right.” As teenagers and young adults heading into the world for the first time, some of us gravitate towards contrasts to how we were raised. Our values are also related to our particular genes and our unique personality and physical traits.

As a young man, I embraced recycling because it appealed to my desire for things to be in their proper place. I’ve always been fastidious. I hated seeing trash on the roads. My alignment with ecological causes is my brand of conservatism.

My dad was a union electric substation operator for Detroit Edison. We were raised Catholic. The first president I voted for was Ronald Reagan.

One of my foundational values is the Golden Rule. Treat others as you want to be treated. Don’t do to others what you don’t want done to you.

Do you want to drink or get high, and drive? Fine—you’re entitled to kill yourself through your stupid choices. You’re not entitled to kill me or my family, though.

When my next-door neighbor’s pounding music shakes my house on a Sunday morning, or when I’m following someone in traffic and their THC-laden skunk-dope fills my car, I don’t feel very civil.

I have a strong sense of right and wrong. I’m often wrong. I’m not perfect, but I try to be.

Another cornerstone value is my sense of responsibility towards my fellow humans. If I benefit from the roads, hospitals, grocery stores, traffic lights, police, EMTs, garbage trucks, electricity, and all the rest where I live, then I pay my due. I believe in doing my fair share, whether it’s doing the dishes after someone makes me a meal, or holding a door for someone.

Taxes are how societies collect resources from everyone for everyone’s benefit. I lived in Europe where national healthcare covers everyone. Everyone contributes proportionally in the form of taxes to fund this valuable support system.

My least proud moments in life have been seeing that I’ve impacted others with my self-centered behavior. Often, what we like the least in others is what we unconsciously do ourselves. I’m using the royal “we.” When I realized that I was guilty of doing to others what I wouldn’t want done to me, I determined to not do it again. I’m not a saint; I’m a sinner trying to remember to try my best.

I like guns. From growing up hunting, to my time in the military, and just getting a little wiser as I’ve gotten older, I have a strong belief in their proper use. Warfighting weapons are made for war, not playing adult let’s pretend.

I believe in listening to car mechanics, government immunologists, and climate scientists. Like every other person, no one’s perfect, but they do know something. I arrive at my own opinion, but I want the best, most accurate information.

I make a living as a detail-oriented jack-of-all-trades painting contractor. I believe in doing my best for my customers, whether I’m installing a toilet, building a deck, painting a house, or putting up shelves. I believe in charging fairly, not squeezing customers for every possible penny. If you treat people right, what goes around comes around.

I hang the hose back on the hook when I’m done airing my tires at a gas station because I’ve gotten there after someone’s thrown it into a tangled pile or even stolen it. I don’t want to give someone else that experience.

I believe in getting my COVID-19 and flu shots. They cost me nothing. I have to try to not be a part of the problem wherever I live. I work for people. They didn’t hire me to carry something from a paint store filled with sneezing, coughing contractors, into their home.

Human-caused global warming is a thing. It’s getting worse. When I realized this, I quit burning things for pleasure. I got rid of my gas mower and weed-wacker and bought electric ones. I try to recycle everything because it’s less energy-intensive than digging or pumping things out of the ground. When I was living in Europe, I felt encouraged to see how thoroughly the Germans and French recycle and reuse everything from their garden compost to metal, glass, plastic, and paper. They can’t afford to throw valuable things away.

It’s urgent to transition to renewable energy as quickly as we can. It’s the most responsible thing we can do.

I don’t want my grown sons or any children they may have to struggle to live in an unlivable world. If sea levels continue to rise, if parts of the world become uninhabitable because of extreme heat, and if hurricanes, tornados, droughts, flooding, and forest fires become increasingly severe, then the resulting mass migration of humans and every other lifeform will vastly overshadow anything our species has ever seen. It will be dog-eat-dog, fighting over food, and killing others over space to exist. This vision haunts me. No matter what happens, I won’t be affected because I’ll be gone—but I don’t want my inaction today to doom our descendants tomorrow. As much as all of us instinctively avoid working, we can’t shirk our duty to our descendants. We have to be adults.

I believe in doing my best. I believe in hoping for the future. I believe in decency. I believe in learning about new things involving engineering, space exploration, and how things work. I’m curious and enjoy encouraging others’ excitement and curiosity.

I believe that cruelty and bullying are wrong. I believe in competition through excellence, not through sabotaging or tearing down one’s competitors. I believe in honesty, fairness, morality, principles, decency, and respect. I believe in working to fix a problem. If the roof leaks, or the car breaks, work to get it fixed. If a child or other loved one is sick, work to help them get well.

Humans are dishonest, decent, unreliable, kind, mean, and generous. I believe in human nature. I believe in trying to be good. I hope for my kids’ future. I hope that people like me will be voted into office in this coming US election.

Everyone thinks that they’re right. If being mean, vicious, and spiteful is right, then I don’t want any part of that.

I’m voting blue all the way down the ballot this election because I’m saying, “No!” to the behavior today in America represented by the color red.

We can choose to respond badly to a problem or we can try our best to solve it. I vote for the latter.