Buck Up Buckaroo

If you people know but one thing about me, it is that I am a man who loves his potatoes. Mashed, fried, steamed, boiled, broiled, foiled, doesn't matter how you fix them, I'll eat them.

It may not be fashionable to admit it but it is easy to admire a potato. You can beat it, smash it, peel it and cut it up but it always remains consistent. It is one of the few food items that can stand alone as the main meal, or play a supplemental and supporting role in a meal. It's the type of food that you don't rave about while you're eating it yet later on as you lie awake at night you realize how much it means to eat a good potato.

Yes, we all could learn a valuable lesson from our friend Mr. Potato. Few foods are as versatile, and even fewer people can do as many things as you can do to a potato. In the age of increasing specialization in the work force it is refreshing to sit back and enjoy the fruits of a finely cooked potato.

Thus it is my advice to the kids just out of school that they don't limit themselves to one area of their chosen vocation whether it be in the law (torts, contracts, tax, property, etc.), medicine (podiatry, nose ears and throat, pediatrics...), or musical genres. It is best when beginning, to expose oneself to as many different areas as one can and get good in as many different things as one can rather than perfecting one area in neglect of the others.

As careers increasingly become things of the past, as more and more of us switch jobs more and more often it is imperative to be adaptable, flexible and versatile. The changing nature of the workplace and of our colleagues in the work force may or may not be something unique to the times we are in, but certainly the tides of change are firmly established and woven into the fabric of our culture.

Just like Madonna's process of selecting a father for her baby, it is good to give yourself as many options, as many choices as you possibly can. America is after all a pro-choice country. You see it every day in your store. People like to be able to choose between buying the latest Iris Dement or the latest Shawn Colvin. The first Wallflowers disc or the second. They like the choice of new or used, vinyl or CD. Every day life is full of many choices. Cats or dogs. Republican or Democrat. KFC or Boston Chicken. Cable or satellite. MCI or AT and T. Public or private schools. Difford or Tilbrook. Heineken or Pabst Blue Ribbon. National managed health care or private scattered clinics. Expresso or cappuccino.

Independent thinkers like to be challenged rather than limited. Corporate capitalism thrives on competition. Diversity, a politically charged word that scares some and empowers others is perhaps the keyword to watch for as we cross the self proclaimed bridge into the 21st Century. Ohairi nasai. Much as we all like to have choices it is that which is different that bothers a lot of people.

Much attention will be given to that cross into a new millennium. All the visible and not so visible pundits will try to attach their pre-determined meanings to the new century. But a potato is still a potato no matter how you fix it and slice it up. This is to say that no matter what they tell you the year 2000 will probably feel much like the year 1999. Yet that doesn't necessarily mean we are headed in the right direction.

As the suburbs spread out towards the ever shrinking wilderness we may see more and more cougars walking around in our downtowns heeding no attention to the traffic lights or crosswalks. A deer in the headlights? We watch as the stock market hits new record highs as more and more corporations downsize it is about the choice of deciding whether or not this is what we want to be. Yes indeed it is wonderful to live in a land that offers diversity. Yet to take our freedom to choose lightly means losing some of that freedom. All it would take is another potato famine and there would be no more french fries. Idaho may not have a lot of electoral votes yet it is meaningful nonetheless. And it is still important that we at the very least take the time to acknowledge the bespectacled beauty of that which we don't recognize until it is far too late. A deceptive curve, an expected fast ball.