(No, this is not a post about the environment.  Not in the way you may be thinking, anyway).

It’s like this.

You’re in a field, sitting down, the sun is shining.

It’s a beautiful day.

Just you and your thoughts.

I venture that the last thing on your mind is… the air you’re breathing.

Breathing in air is one of those amazing miracles of life.

We need to do it to stay alive, yet we don’t ever have to think about it.  It’s all so brilliant and incredibly efficient.

Can you imagine?

Inner dialogue: Already time to get up?  Oh, I neeeed coffee … breathe in air… it’s my turn for car pool… ooops, breathe in air… man, I hate carpool, then I have to pick up dry cleaning on the way home… breathe in air… where is that dry cleaning slip, “Honey-have-you-seen-the-dry-cleaning-slip” …  what am I going to wear todaa…

::thud::

Husband: I don’t understand, she was the picture of health… what happened??!

Coroner: Sir, I see it all the time… she forgot to breathe.  Tragic.

So, yes.  The air.

You breath it in.

You breathe it out.

You do not think about it.

So, anyway, you and I, we’re back in the field, now.

You’re thinking your happy thoughts… what a beautiful day, I love the sunshine, did I leave the iron on… but what you’re not thinking about is the air you’re breathing.

You don’t think about the fact that this field you’re sitting in might be next to a chemical processing plant.

You do not think about the toxins in the air that are going into your lungs.

Because breathing in air?  Requires no thinking.

When I first embarked on the study of history, it was difficult to come to terms with the paradoxical nature of our nation’s origins.  For example, this gem: all men are created equal… except every seventh man who happens to be owned by one of the previous six.  And women are too stupid to care.

It was hard not to be judgmental and even more difficult not to scream, “HYPOCRITES!” every ten pages.

But, I realized something, thankfully, very early on.

A nation breathes the air.

It breathes in.

It breathes out.

And, for the most part, it does not think about the air.  Because there’s not enough time, and it’s not exactly efficient.  We keep the body moving by actually moving it, not by sitting around thinking about how it moves, where it’s going or whether it should move at all.

We breathe the air in.

We breathe the air out.

We do not have to think about it in order to keep moving.

And, yet.

Every now and then someone does notice something funny in the air, in the way it smells or the way it tastes.

A William Lloyd Garrison, a Rosa Parks or maybe a Gloria Steinem will say, “Hmmm, something in this air is just not right.”

They feel the disturbing molecules in the air that though invisible and exerting little effect on this very moment for most people, may grow into a devastating illness that eventually does affect everyone.

Throughout our history, some people have stopped and thought about the air and thus forced the rest of us to stop and think about it, too.

And, of course, there are people who say, maybe even scream, “The air is fine, we don’t have time for this, we can’t sit around thinking about the stupid air, we have enough air, anyway, and who cares if it’s pure and clean… at least we have air and at least we can breathe it.”

Or, worse, “Ah like the way the air is juss fiiine ’cause there’s no waay Ah’m pickin’ mah own cotton.”

I would like each of you to think about the air you breathe today.

Think about discussions regarding universal health care, foreign policy, civil unions, policies restricting certain citizens from serving in the military, consumer protection, corporate responsibility, food production, offshore drilling, and alternative energy.

I’m not telling you what to think or even what I think.

I’m just asking you if you think the air is alright.

Is it good enough?  Is it pure and clean and will it keep us healthy?

Or is it the kind of air that is good right now, but will be bad for us later?

We have to keep the body moving.

We don’t have time to sit around and think about the air all the time.

So, yes, breathe the air in, and breathe it out.

But, just for a few moments each day, will you please think about the kind of air you think is best for us to breathe?*

*P.S.  Watching the “news” is not thinking about the air. It’s still just breathing it without thinking about it.