Dear Marvin,
We live in the world of the nanny. And as you rightly
cry, we should all, indeed, be shouting ENOUGH!
I am an Englishman currently working and residing in
the Cayman Islands. In England, buying tobacco requires
(a) a mortgage and (b) a strong sense of resilience to be
greeted by packaging bearing a skull and crossbones and
informing one of imminent death upon consuming the
purchase. Cayman is moving that way. You in the U.S. are
way, way, way down the path to an Orwellian society.
This nanny factor needs to be treated on a par with it
being its own weapon of mass destruction. So this morning,
I went to my Cuban cigar dealer here in Grand Cayman --
Havana House and its owner Jamie Pineda -- and over a
Montecristo "A" and Cuban coffee, chatted and came up
with the following thoughts on the issue of state nannying,
which I will bundle into the generic heading of "safety."
It was that exceedingly wise hector, Schiller, who said:
"Our safety lies not in blindness, but in facing our dangers."
According to the Panchatantra -- and ancient collection
of Sanskrit tales written to teach good conduct to
princes -- "safety is the greatest gift in the world, better
than the gift of a cow, of land, or of food." Most would
agree, thinking how dangerous a place the world seems,
beset as it is by acts of terrorism, by natural and man-
made disasters, by the fatalities of war and, it now seems,
by smoking cigars. For people in quarters of the globe
usually as peaceful as they are right, like the Cayman
Islands, it is something new to have perils like Ivan and
threats like cigar smoking pressing so closer, distorting
the contours of a psychological landscape that once
seemed pleasantly familiar and comfortably safe.
The dominant school of thought among educated
people in classic antiquity was Stoicism, which taught
how to achieve atraxia - peace of mind - in an uncertain
and graught world. You have little control over what
happens in the world around you, the Stoics said, so you
must accept with grace and resignation what it does to
you. But you can govern your emotions, and if you master
them you will free yourself from anxiety. One aspect of the
Stoic outlook is given succint modern expression by
Joseph Krutch: "Security depends not upon how much
you have, as upon how much you can do without."
It is rational to take thought for one's safety. In
England, we say, "Tis folly to bolt the door with a boiled
carrot." But too much concern with safety - too little pre-
paredness to accept that the very act of living is risky - is
counterproductive in too many ways. To make everything
yield to considerations of safety is to invite a different risk;
that of living without opportunity, progress, or growth or
experience. "The most beaten paths are certainly the
surest," said Andre Gide, "but do not hope to scare up
much game on them."
This applies to personal life, not so much matters as
airline safety, where no risks are acceptable. In personal
life, risks are the motors of advance, especially in emo-
tional and intellectual respect, both of which are aided
and abetted by fine cigars. To love is to risk, to try new
ideas and methods is to risk, to be open to new friend-
ships, new experiences, new challenges and change all
involve risk. The costs are occasional failure and the
likelihood of suffering. Ask George Burns. Ask JFK. Ask
Schwarzenegger. Ask Babe Ruth. Ask Einstein. Ask
Edison, Freud, Twain. And others.
Governments which, in response to threats against
the liberties and securities of the state, diminish the
state's liberties in the hope of increasing its securities,
thereby give a partial victory to the threateners.
Benjamin Franklin acidly remarked that, "they that can
give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." It is better to
live a trifle more dangerously to live freely, than to live
safely in a locked room made of fears and restrictions --
not least when the liberties in question have been hard
won over long stretches of history, and are so precious.
If small countries and quiet nations -- places and peo-
ples on the sidelines, like the islands -- are safe from
terrorism, it is because they owe their immunity to mar-
ginality. The same applies to individuals. In his fable of
the great and little fishes, Aesop has the latter say, "Our
insignificance is often the cause of our safety." Some
therefore embrace insignificance. But safety is almost its
only merit. Although being out in front assuredly invites
peril as well as rewards, there is the added consolation
identified by Victor Hugo, "Great perils have this beauty,
that they bring to light the fraternity of strangers." As
does the medium of a fine cigar. I am indebted to
Montecristo for their "A," my atraxia.
Gary Hagland
Grand Cayman, Grand Cayman Islands
