Letter: Working together works better

The day after Christmas, a power crew from Virginia was in my neighborhood helping restore electricity losses caused by Mother Nature’s most-recent windy bizarre weather event. As I thanked the crew members for giving up Christmas with their mutual-aid efforts, I thought about how the basic human decency of “we-ism” team efforts win over selfish “me-ism.”

For 35 years as a fireman/first-responder, I frequently witnessed the pooling of resources, when surrounding towns responded to every structure fire, serious accident or search and rescue. And as an addiction therapist for 37 years, I saw countless success stories emerge from 12-step recovery, which starts with the key word “we,” for we together can do what I alone can’t.

“We the people” is the opening statement of the U.S. Constitution. The wisdom of Mother Nature is demonstrated through synergism where individual pool resources create a greater/higher power. So, for example, flowers give nectar in exchange for “win-win” pollination. And groves of trees protect each other, as they stand together or self-destruct.

The myth of capitalism is that only rugged individuals create stuff. The reality is Robert Fulton never could have invented the steamship alone. Rather, he and others always depend upon “we power.”

Michael Beebe

Francestown

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