TWO MEN
Copyright (c) Rick Yost

In a cabin on the side of a snow-covered mountain, two men discuss their opposing lifestyles and the state of American society.

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Chase Jackson is a best-selling, adventure novelist who’s been in Alaska for a week researching his next novel. He is a modern, technologically connected, state of the art man who lives in the city.
Hilman Martin will pilot the single-engine airplane that will carry Chase back to the Anchorage airport. Hilman is a simple man who has lived his life far away from the city, technology and the computer age.
A snowstorm has grounded all air traffic between the mountains. For the sake of convenience Chase has become a guest in Hilman’s home for the night. If the weather clears in the morning, they can quickly be in the air and on their way. It is December twenty-third.
Chase arrives in time to share dinner with the Martins. Dinner, coffee and conversation are now over. It has been a very enjoyable evening and Chase is impressed with the Martins, their home and simple lifestyle.
Hilman’s wife and their teenage son say goodbye to both men and depart for their drive up the mountain to Hilman’s mother’s house. Weather permitting; Hilman will fly Chase back to the airport tomorrow and return to join his family for Christmas Eve.
While snow falls outside, the men sit in front of a roaring fire sipping cups of well-spiked eggnog. The large, wood-paneled living room with high vaulted ceiling and stone fireplace, reminds Chase of a ski lodge. He sits in one of two leather chairs facing the fire and looks around the house. There is no television, computer or stereo. There is no microwave in the kitchen. He can see no electronic devices or digital clocks or anything that one considers commonplace, even necessary back in his world. What he does see is a very nice, well constructed home, one that the Martins built themselves.
“Your wife is beautiful and seems like a wonderful woman.” Chase says with sincerity. “And your boy is a bright young fellow as well. I am impressed with all of you.”
Hilman sits down in his own leather chair and with a smile says, “Well, thanks. I do feel fortunate.”
He reaches down between the two chairs and comes up with a cigar box from under the table. He offers a cigar to Chase who smiles and accepts.
While they smoke their cigars, Hilman takes a bag of tobacco from the box and rolls a home-grown joint. Hilman works with the air of a man accustomed to living life on his own terms, unfettered by society.
With the help of the eggnog and the fire they relax and enjoy each other’s company. The conversation turns this way and that, as a good conversation will. They talked of their childhoods, similar tastes and distastes.
Their cigars burned and the night went on. Hilman stepped to the kitchen to refill their cups with eggnog. Upon returning, he turned out the lamp on the table and the room filled with the warm, golden glow from the fireplace. He then lit the joint he’d rolled and offered it to Chase. They smoke on it while staring into the fire.
Chase speaks, “You know, I came up here to research a new book.” He takes one more hit, hands the cigarette to Hilman and raises his hand signaling he’s had enough.
He exhales as he continues, “The funny thing is, I wouldn’t have really seen what life here was like had I not met you and your family.” He turns to Hilman with a big smile. “I expected to find a more simple minded folk up here. I don’t mean I thought you’d be cave-people or something. I guess I expected harsh people in this harsh environment.” Chase feels himself back-pedal, not wanting to insult his host.
Hilman says in a joking manner, “No, we don’t let bears walk through the house. We’re not illiterate slobs, who sit around drinking moonshine all day. We don’t call our kids ‘Bubba’ and my wife is not my sister.” He grins and takes another hit.
Chase says with an apologetic tone, “I’m sorry, I think I’ve offended you.”
Hilman starts to reply, then coughs from the smoke in his lungs. He leans forward and coughs hard repeatedly. His cough turns into a loud belly laugh and he says with a scratchy voice, “No, no, you’ve not offended me. I just think its funny. You’re not what I expected either.” He wipes his watering eyes. “I thought you’d be a real nervous, impatient, computer geek, who’d complain about not finding a bidet in the bathroom.”
They both laugh. Chase says, “I think I’m going to model some characters in my book after you and your family.” With smoke billowing around his head, holding a hit in his lungs, Hilman grins and says, “Cool! Do we get royalties?”
Again they laugh and Chase says, “Well I don’t know about that, but I can mention you all by name in the dedication. How’s that?” After speaking, he felt foolish. Chase knew Hilman was joking. He knew this man would think very little of such a mainstream concept as fame or fortune. He knew although Hilman didn’t have money, he didn’t seem to want for anything.
Chase says, “You know, I envy you being so comfortable living out here, you’re really a part of nature. My family and I have to drive a good distance to get anywhere near this kind of wilderness. And on those rare occasions when we do get away we really can’t relax. It’s too alien an environment for us. I spend most of my time worrying about predators and other dangers we’re not used to. Then I can’t get what I left back in the city out of my head. I worry about my house, work and commitments. It’s real difficult to just let go and have a good time, you know?”
Hilman replies, “Well, I do admit it can get a little boring up here. I grew up on the side of this mountain and I’m very comfortable here. But there are times when all of us need a change of pace. I too have experienced that alien feeling you spoke of. I think of the times I’ve visited cities like Anchorage, Los Angeles or Denver. I even made a trip to New York City when I was a younger man, but didn’t care for it much. It was too crowded; too noisy and too stressful. Just like you know a little of our life up here on the mountain, I know a little of life in the city.
Up here we have a whole community of folks that live the way they did hundreds of years ago. No, we’re not complete hillbillies. Up at the lodge they have satellite television. The gas station and coffee shop at the airstrip have microwave ovens. We have CB radios and some folks even have cell phones. We’re not Amish; we just don’t have utility lines bringing electricity out here. All of our juice comes from, gas-powered generators. We eat, work, sleep and have babies just like you folks do. We just live simply and try not to waste anything.”
Chase asks, “So what do you think of us city people? Do you think we’re as crazy as we think you are?” He ends in a grin.
Hilman sips his eggnog and thinks for a moment. “Well, I don’t think you’re crazy, but you do seem to let money and technology, run your lives. You obsess over and idolize the simplest of things.
Take the automobile for instance. I’ve had that old pickup truck of mine for twelve years. It’s reliable and basically comfortable. When it becomes more costly to repair than to replace, I’ll buy another one, used of course. But for now it gets me where I need to go, when I need to go there.
Car manufacturers know that’s all one needs a vehicle for. But since they employ so many people and answer to so many stockholders, they need to sell a lot of cars. So they make these basic machines, as interesting, appealing and sexy as possible. They’ve turned them into rolling entertainment centers with higher quality stereos than most folks have in their homes. Hell, they even put televisions in cars now. Tell me anyone who needs a television in the car?
The automobile is the biggest cog in the American Dream machine. It is so inter-woven into society and the market that America would not be the same without it.
The automobile not only gets the consumer to work to earn money to buy all the other things that the machine makes, but they’re a status symbol. A person who doesn’t own a vehicle in America today is either considered a loser or at least out of work or broke. And do you not see that this too, this status symbol concept is, if not conceived, at least perpetuated by car companies and the machine.
And you’re sold on having to have the newest model. Whether the car you have is sufficient or not, whether you can afford it or not, you have to have the latest thing or you’re not satisfied. And thank “God” for the American, “Can Do” mantra that tells you; you have the right, the moral obligation to be satisfied.
Your clothing is another extreme subject. Not only do you have to have a different set of clothes for every day of the week, but two or three styles of clothes for different parts of the day. And then you also need different clothes for every type of special occasion that can possibly come up.
Clothing to folks up here in the wild isn’t just a fashion thing. Comfortable, well-made garments are a necessity. Even so, I think I dress pretty well for a mountain man.
My wife got her degree in the city. She tells me that especially women’s clothes are outrageously expensive. She says some women will pay hundreds of dollars for a t-shirt. A t-shirt! Now you tell me, does having a lot of money make you stupid?
And advertising, they show you the same product, the same way, over and over until you can’t get it out of your head. Then you go and partake in another American concept, shopping. You buy that product because you have money to spend and you’re familiar with the name. Does this make sense? Whatever happened waiting until you need something, then going out and buying the highest quality product at the best price?
Yes, we all have to have transportation. Yes we all have to have clothing, I’m not trying to be foolish here, but think about something. What if we took all the effort, the science, the imagination, the money we spend every year on selling ourselves these very basic and simple things and used it for medical research. What if instead of striving to come up with new ways to make it easier for the impoverished, young, black man buy his first car; we found ways to make it easier for him to get an education? What if as a society we said, “Enough is enough!” What if we changed our society to where success wasn’t what was parked in your driveway, but what was in your mind? But of course I speak foolishness. I speak blasphemy and heresy. I’m suggesting, “Heaven forbid”, we actually change American society. Of course we all are in agreement that America is the “Greatest Society on the planet!”
We are so “Great” that with all our posturing; all our conviction; all our smug, “John Waynism” and “We’re Number One” attitude, we’re still doing nothing more than everybody else on the planet is doing; surviving. We still spend most of our energy, our money, our education and genius simply, yet expensively, feeding, clothing and housing ourselves. Oh, yes and driving around the block to show off our new vehicles. Aren’t we great?
Over the last century, America has grown and prospered well. Depending on which criteria you use, we are the richest country in the world. We are the most powerful and influential people on the planet. Our lifestyle, at least what is presented by Hollywood and the media is the standard by which all other people compare themselves to, whether they see it as good or bad. We are either to be emulated for our style and genius or hated for our waste and ignorance of the world around us. We are the most inventive and innovative. We excel at everything. This is all mostly due to our technology.

But behind all our technology, we are still just basic folks who shiver in the cold and get hungry come nightfall.
What if there were a stock market crash or natural disaster or, God forbid, another terrorist attack that shuts everything down for a time. That’s one of the catch 22’s about our progress and technology. The more dependent we become on our technology, the more vulnerable we are if for some reason we had to do without it.
Everything is connected to everything else. Businesses spread and grow and become more interwoven with all other businesses until you can’t change one thing without it directly or indirectly affecting another. This is a natural progression of course, but the advent of the Internet and Satellite communications has caused the interconnection of businesses to happen very quickly.”
Hilman sits back and realizes he’s been talking for quite a while. He glances at Chase and says, “I’m sorry, I get into things sometimes.”
“No, don’t apologize, I want hear what you think about these things. Since you brought it up, what about the Internet? Don’t you think that’s positive progress?”
“Well, I think the original idea behind it was brilliant. But we can all see that we now have a whole new set of problems. The sickness of mankind spreads just as fast if not faster than the goodness of mankind.
You now have easier ways to spend your money online and in turn it is easier to have your money stolen from you. It’s like the line from that movie, “If you build it, they will come.” Well, if you build a two way portal to the world, the world will come into your home and steal all it can from you. And it happens everyday with more frequency.
It’s great that you have saved your children from the tedious and difficult chore of having to handle a book and turn the pages. But I think something is being lost here we’re not aware of yet. Being able to just ‘click and find’ information will only mean the loss of the ability to mentally and physically search for answers. I think this is like using a calculator reduces your ability to compute on your own.

Of course in addition to this, now children are exposed to constant barrage of advertising, violence through music and video games and more pornography sites than you could view in a lifetime.
And what about this ‘bringing the world together’ concept we keep hearing about in regards to the computer age and the Internet. Many children in America have their own televisions, computers, Internet access and cell phones. Yet family discussions or basic daily contact with their parents is almost non-existent. As a society, we’ve learned how to communicate so well, we don’t communicate anymore.
You know all across the country there are still real communities like the one here on the side of this mountain. We stay in touch and take care of each other. Nobody goes hungry or needs for medical attention. And we don’t even have telephones in our houses.
But down in the big cities you have telephones, fax machines, e-mail, radios, televisions and cell phones. Yet you can’t seem to stay in touch, care for your elderly or keep people from dying of starvation, illness or simple loneliness.
Think of that. Americans are the best-educated, most powerful and technologically advanced people on the planet. Yet every year thousands of Americans die of starvation. Hell, if we’re so technologically advanced why can’t we feed ourselves?
I’m not trying to say that computers and technology aren’t great; I think it’s amazing but I can already count. I can read a book. I can look up facts and learn things on my own without them.
I have nothing more than a high school education, but this is my perception; More Americans go to college now than ever before. Why? Is it to prepare them for life or to enrich their minds so they might actually understand their world? No! The truth is although a higher education is a great and beneficial thing to anyone, the main reason we are driven to a higher education now is the technology we have built around us. Because no longer does the education we receive from High School do it for us. Now a degree is imperative to work the more complicated society and technological system we’ve set up. I’m not putting anyone down that goes to college. I think the greatest thing an individual or a society can achieve is education. I’m just saying, we as a society no longer can accept any less than our workforce being highly educated.

Yet many people will tell you they wouldn’t spend the money to go to college if it weren’t for the social pressure to get the highest paying job possible.
And society will not let us just live and be simple and happy. Working a simple job, earning a modest living and enjoying life, doesn’t really do much to further technology or the American Dream. Sure I think everyone should strive to be their best, but just because someone doesn’t want to be rich, doesn’t make them stupid. Some folks are just not into the stress and worries of trying to keep up with the Jones. But of course it’s just not American to not want to be rich. If you’re not striving to be the best, the biggest, the most beautiful; the most wealthy and comfortable; then you’re a loser.

The system gets bigger, more complicated and technologically advanced. For us to participate fully we must learn to work the bigger, more complicated and technologically advanced system. As we become more proficient at working the system, in turn it becomes bigger, more complicated and technologically advanced.
Do you see a pattern here?

We spend the majority of our lives just working to keep the machine running. We work and tell ourselves we are happy. Yet we have the hardest time of any prior generation in staying healthy or refraining from committing suicide.
You’re born, go to school, go to work then marry and multiply. Then you work, deal with stress and work some more. You divorce and deal with stress. You work and marry again because what else is there to do. You continue to work, have a heart attack and try to deal with stress. Just before you retire from all that work, you die. That’s life in America.
Advancements in Medical Technology have increased our life spans and increased chances of successful procreation. This along with religious objections to birth control has sent population numbers soaring. The more people there are, the more minds are born that will further technology. Technology creates more people and in turn they create more technology.”
“Okay now hold on there ‘mountain man’.” Chase can’t stand it any more, “You didn’t just cut down a few trees, rub some sticks together and come up with that airplane you fly. And if it weren’t for computerized weather stations getting information from satellites circling this planet, you’d have been lost in a snowstorm long ago.” He ends with just a slight grin and fire in his eyes. He’s heard enough of the attack on his world.
Hilman sports a wide, toothy grin and repeats what Chase said to him earlier in the conversation,
“I’m sorry, I think I’ve offended you.”
Chase recognizes the humor in the situation and they both laugh. Chase says, “I understand the point you’re making. It has its merits but I think you take it to the extreme.”
“Well, I might be extreme but think of this; if we’ve learned anything its that history cycles, so we expect this to occur at some time in the future. When the stock market crashes, the economy collapses and mob rules the masses, everything will change. When society finally comes full circle and people are forced to fend for themselves for the first time, you tell me if you’re prepared. And while you’re freezing and hungry and trying to figure out how to make fire without a lighter, you’ll see who’s extreme.”
Chase rolls his eyes, stands up and says; “Now you’re getting paranoid. Why don’t you roll another joint, get us some more eggnog and I’ll go hunt for that bidet.”

Outside the snow kept falling.