Tree-hugger

Spring can be a trying time for us here in the Upper Peninsula. It can be 65 degrees and gloriously sunny one day and 35 degrees with a rain/snow mix the next. But we persevere and wait because the rewards are just around the corner and they're so gratifying when you find them.

I stayed at the Four Seasons Resort in Pembine (just south of the UP) over the weekend, and on Saturday spent about six hours with my companion searching for waterfalls. We managed to find three but were locked out of a fourth because it was closed due to treacherous snow and ice on the access path to it.

Still, we visited three, my favorite being David's Upper and Lower Falls. Nothing spectacular, no huge fall in elevation, just a wondrous combination of swirling, rushing water at four or five locations, an island basking in the welcome springtime sun, pine trees proudly emerging from the cold of winter, and tiny banks of snow still hiding in the shadows but shrinking in size every hour.

No sounds at all, other than the rushing water. Hardly any visitors, either. Just two who quietly walked by lost in their own little world.

And it struck me there, as I was gazing at this magnificent scene, that probably most people these days, brought up in the cities and suburbs, not only didn't get the opportunity to see something like this, but more important, if they did see it, they wouldn't get it.

They wouldn't understand because they're so accustomed to shopping malls and highways and pleasant but bland suburban neighborhoods. Their lives are overrun with people and buildings and non-stop action and chatter.

But out at David's Falls, there was none of that--just a warm springtime sun beaming down upon us as the frigid water from some unseen body of snow to the north surged past us.

A tree-hugger. That's what I realized I was. Not an environmental activist really, just someone who at that moment in the sun, amidst the pines and the waterfalls, was mesmerized by it all. I embraced nature. I was a tree-hugger.

And even if it snows this weekend and the blustery winds and gloomy skies return, that's a small price to pay for what we have at David's Falls or any other patch of paradise that we can find year-round in the UP.

The Son of a Teacher

I feel a little guilty writing this.

You see, I'm the son of a teacher and union member. My mother taught in the California schools for about three decades. She was dedicated, she was tough, she loved her job at times---with kids who wanted to learn, with kids who were trying to get their lives on the right track---and she dreaded it at times--with the school politics, with overly intrusive parents and with lazy, occasionally nasty students.

And she was a strong union member.

That's why, when I watch the teacher vs governor drama play out in Wisconsin, I have conflicting emotions. I love teachers, I love the commitment they have to educate young people. They're not salesmen, they're not in the profession to make a buck.

But.....(this is where the narrative takes the big turn)....

But I also have come to believe that, over the last few decades, and especially over the last few years while the economy's taken a nosedive, some teachers and other government workers are living in something of a dream world.

Jobs have disappeared in the private sector, payrolls have declined, salaries have been frozen, health benefits have actually shrunk. Speaking only for myself, I can say that I'm paying more in premiums than I used to, I've had to increase my co-pays, and my coverage is less than it was. I and my fellow employees just shrug our shoulders when this happens; it's just a sign of the times.

No protests, no work stoppages.

Maybe we're naive, lambs waiting to be slaughtered, or maybe we're just more in touch with reality.

Many teachers and other employees paid by the government, though, seem to have the feeling that benefits can't shrink. And their benefits, as is well-known, are pretty damn generous. They have pensions! What the hell is a pension? I thought those disappeared years ago.

I think in the past we, as a society, have justified the generous benefits because we knew that teachers, perhaps, weren't paid as much as workers in the private sector. I'm not so sure that's true anymore. There are plenty of people in the TV business, the restaurant business, and the shoe-selling business who would love to make $30,000 a year. And would love to have 10 weeks of vacation a year, or more.

So once again, sorry, Mom. I think the times have changed. I hope I haven't.