Writing to you makes me want to say something profound. Perhaps it is just the activity of writing that makes me want to record something of interest to posterity. Possibly it is because I have been reading profound books. But I think it is because you have always encouraged conversation about life's big issues. So in honor of our joint arrival at the half-century mark, and in an attempt to achieve profundity, I forthwith delve into discussion of profound books and life's big issues.

A few years ago I went through a phase of reading about World War II. I believe it began when I realized that my several acquaintances that had directly experienced WWII were not going to be available much longer. And my growing recognition of the influence of WWII on the world view of my parent's generation, and therefore on my socialization. So I read Churchill's [The Second World War], the WWII books by [Stephen Ambrose], and other WWII histories and personal memoirs. Taken together this reading impressed upon me the interconnectedness of human events and the sobering consequences of poor public policy and leadership choices.

More recently I have been heavily influenced by [Terror and Liberalism] by Paul Berman, Michael Rothschild's [Bionomics], and Barbara Freese's [Coal: a Human History]. I have also taken a whirlwind multidisciplinary tour of human history through Jared Dimond's [Guns, Germs and Steel] and [Collapse]. And finally, I just finished [The First American], a biography of Benjamin Franklin by H.W. Brands.

Meanwhile the world hasn't stood still, and our country is again engaged in controversial foreign military operations, while many of our own, citizens of the world's most powerful and influential nation, are suffering from inadequate and sub-standard education, health care, and infrastructure.

The contrast between the reasoned analyses and altruistic leadership in my reading list, and the apparently shallow and self-serving policies of our elected leadership, stimulates some kind of Pavlovian response. I find myself pondering fundamental civic responsibilities. Given that we have achieved a certain amount of wisdom and maturity, and our experience has given us a few useful skills, and that there is ample evidence that we live in an imperfect world; what is our individual responsibility to right wrongs, to set things straight?

Of course that question reveals a generous helping of hubris; who am I to think I should, or can, solve the world's problems? Of course I hope you will read my words and judge them on their merits, but, the short answer to that question is that I recognize my limitations, and my quest is to "stand on the shoulders of giants" to understand some of the world's imperfections and identify some corrective actions available to an individual with ordinary talents and influence.

Thus setting aside questions about my qualifications for the task, what specific imperfections of this world do I presume to address? There are plenty to choose from, but clearly some imperfections are more fundamental than others, and solutions to the most fundamental issues would produce the maximum benefit. In engineering terms, the objective is optimizing our problem-solving efforts by determining and correcting "root cause" issues. So what are the root cause imperfections of planet earth and human societies?

Most observers would agree that consumption of earth's resources at non-sustainable rates must rank prominently on the root cause list. Jared Dimond's recent book Collapse analyzes [twelve problems of non-sustainability], and he proceeds to identify actions ordinary individuals can take to contribute to their solution. I am hugely appreciative of his books, and of his specific suggestions. But as an individual seeking practical corrective actions, with tangible feedback, the suggestions tend to be somewhat unsatisfactory. (Perhaps it isn't easy to save the world?)

The other root cause imperfections that I rank high on the list are the failure of western society to educate and socialize children effectively (effectively presented by Hillary Rodham Clinton in [It Takes a Village]), and the bleak and inhumane environments that humans build and in which it is so difficult to thrive.

These two imperfections are certainly overwhelming on a national or global scale. But I do have the ability to influence the education and socialization of my own children, and to select and/or influence many aspects of their environment. And through involvement with Boy Scouts, my children's schools, and my local community, ripples of influence can be propogated beyond my direct family. Here are two significant root cause imperfections that I can directly address and, on a very limited scale, correct or ameliorate. Clearly it is my responsibility to do so, and while thus engaged, I am making the world a better place. Discharging these responsibilities is a necessary contribution, but is it a sufficient contribution?

And if I choose to stretch for more significant achievements, what consequent compromises should I accept to my children's education, socialization, and environment?

(And appropriately at this point in my letter-writing exercise, I am making a very direct trade-off between addressing the world's problems in this letter, and my responsibilities to my children, and at Christopher's request, I am leaving the letter for a while to participate in the making of a chocolate cake!)

Returning to this letter with the cake baked and consumed....

That is probably enough profundity for one letter. I enjoyed writing it, but, in practice my life is so full with ordinary events that I don't regularly give a lot of attention to the problems of the world. Gary, I suspect you are more engaged with saving the world, and I would enjoy discussing this further.