Dakota Beacon

However, the alternative to ND oil or any other American oil, of course, is Saudi oil. I personally don't like supporting the Saudi way of life. I know people who live in that lifestyle. I have a friend in Pakistan who keeps me informed of the world of Islam from the city of Lahore. It is not pretty.

We all get Christmas letters from friends – people who, if we believe them, are living the good life – nothing that resembles the tough, gritty day-to-day that blights our own journals. I actually love these letters. I know that's weird. We're supposed to feel down about our friends' good fortune and feel all bad about ourselves. I don't. I like to hear the fun things other people do. It gives me hope. It's sort of an extension of “a high tide lifts all boats” or something to that effect. Anyway, I got one of these and the only thing that torqued me off about it was a slam against oil development. (Yes, I have a lot of liberal friends.)

So here's a paraphrasing of our exchange this year:

Dear Sally,

Well, it's Christmas time again! We've had an eventful year in 2014. It began with Jerry's trip to Rio in January. Linda stayed home to rest up for her conference, where she presented her project on education for the homeless and hopeless. It went very well! We're planning a special getaway together this year. We thought maybe Savannah, for St. Patrick's Day. (We really enjoyed it in Dublin in 2012.) They say, if you're not in New York or Dublin, the place to be on St. Patrick's Day is Savannah.

Speaking of New York, Linda just got back from her trip to the Big Apple, where she enjoyed the Rockettes and two really hot Broadway shows. Throw in an art exhibit and a night painting the Apple red, and she came home glowing from a trip she'll always remember.

Daughter Kristin and her new husband went to the South Pacific in October. The photo is of them in Samoa at Robert Louis Stevenson's grave, a great writer and poet, even though a Tory most of his life.

We're going with them next time!

On the home front, have you seen the disaster created in western North Dakota by the Bakken boom? Just take a look – google ND oil boom. That says it all.

Jerry hasn't had much time to fly this year, but hopes to log more time in the spring.

We all wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year – all the best in 2015!

Linda and Jerry Ohlbacher

Well, what do you say to that? Of course you don't depress them with your own real life, but it's not about that. I'm glad Linda and Jerry are healthy and happy and able to enjoy a wonderful life together. We all want that, after all. But I felt really compelled to answer with regard to the swipe at ND oil. I do surveys so I know it isn't all rosy, especially for those heavily impacted, whose lives are in disarray at times. But here's my answer:

Dear Linda and Jerry,

It's great to hear from you! It sounds like you're really enjoying your retirement and making the most of life. I applaud you. Nice to hear about Kristin and Steve. They must be taking a page from your book. Good for them.

My family is doing well. Other than a need for cataract surgery my mother is very well. Cindy and Arthur finally got together to play some jazz for the local theater Christmas benefit. It was fun to see them. Angie is still in the Cities, and although she loves it, and follows the Twins religiously, she is looking for a less expensive place to live. I think she'll enjoy less driving to work!

Arthur is still managing the store and Cindy is now teaching at Prime Time preschool.

I'm working on a set of short stories. Hope to finally get them finished in the coming months so I can go back to the great American novel I have in mind! We took a little trip to Fargo this summer and the break was fun. Went to see the replica of the Viking ship at Hjemkomst while there. Impressive.

Regarding ND's oil boom, while I wish we could avoid any negative results and desire to see them kept to the very minimum, I must also note your globe-trotting lifestyle, which you have pursued relentlessly since your retirement and even before. How do you get to New York? Rio? Dublin? Samoa? The Riviera? How will you get to Savannah in 2015? You're planning on a trip. I would suspect that you use more oil than anyone else I know. How do you DO it? If you have some way in which you travel long distances from your safe haven in North Dakota, year after year after year, which does not use up fossil fuel, please share it with the rest of us!! I still bike to the grocery store and often to the university when I have work there. When I can't I take a bus. It's not time-efficient for me, it's not always pleasant, but nevertheless I do not begrudge the motorists who whiz past me, warm in their late model cars and SUVs, as I labor on. At the moment, I think I'm more a conservationist than you! What do you guys drive? Does it use fuel?

Maybe you have one of those hybrids that coasts along on electricity. But that comes from the same old coal-burning pits of shame that produce the energy that lights up Broadway. Think of all the good people who work on Broadway. In addition to the actors and entertainers, you have the crew, the staff, the publicity people and their employees, the people who serve all these people - food vendors, delicatessens, clothiers, shoemakers, dance teachers, singing coaches, musicians, rehearsal pianists, landlords, on and on and on. And the same for the Rockettes at Radio City. Don't get me wrong. I love you guys a lot. I love hearing about your travels and adventures. It makes my life more interesting to know people like you, even if I share these things vicariously. I would hate to hear that you've all taken a vow of poverty or something, where you stayed home and wore layers of sweaters and started taking the bus. It would make boring, terrible Christmas letters, for one thing. For another, you'd deprive a lot of people who have served you in the transportation, hospitality and entertainment industries of your custom. You help to support them, to feed their families, to educate their kids, to make the world a better and more interesting place by getting out there and sharing your good fortune with these people, while enjoying life as we are meant to do. Your activities help to make the world go around. Don't stop!

However, the alternative to ND oil or any other American oil, of course, is Saudi oil. I personally don't like supporting the Saudi way of life. I know people who live in that lifestyle. I have a friend in Pakistan who keeps me informed of the world of Islam from the city of Lahore. It is not pretty. Recently he wrote me about a young Christian couple (the wife was pregnant) who refused to convert to Islam, were thus accused of blasphemy and were thrown, still alive, into a kiln. Their other children seem to have escaped. Saudi oil supports Islam. I am not becoming a multiculturalist. I really do believe there are some social constructs that actually are better than others. I don't want America and our free lifestyle to be dependent upon Saudi or Iraqi or anyone else's oil.

We live in North Dakota and Minnesota. Unless we want to pollute the atmosphere with wood smoke coming out of our chimneys, or wish to succumb to exposure and hypothermia, we need to heat our homes. This means natural gas, electricity or oil or some combination of these. The underdeveloped countries in the world have the dirtiest water, the filthiest living conditions for the people, the worst threats to health and life. The more prosperous the people, the closer they are to your lifestyle - eating healthy food, drinking clean water, breathing safe air, enjoying life, including theater, dancing, dining, travel and getting around in an automobile. It would thus be far better to encourage development of those parts of the world where misery abounds in the so-called "natural" environment and make life better and safer for those people. So next time you fly off to a meeting (perhaps called to address the contamination of our modern lifestyle with the production of energy for our cars, our homes, our airplanes, our synthetic fabrics, our phones, our televisions, production of our movies, our stage shows, our neon signs and bright lights), think about what a dark, closed world you would be living in without that energy. No Samoa, no Rio, no Metropolitan Museum of Art, no bright lights on Broadway. No fun. No lights that go on at the flip of a switch. In fact, a kind of hell. So think about what you want to do in life before you criticize those of us who appreciate coal and oil for what they make possible.

Most of all, keep living life as you were born to do – get out there and keep circulating your good fortune and making the world's wheels keep turning. Please stop in whenever you're in town – I would love to see you! Send me a postcard from Savannah, too! Merry Christmas from all of us to all of you! And a very, very happy 2015!

Love, Sally