Apples are not Money

As my grandmother used to say, money doesn't grow on trees. So apples are not money. Where does money grow? In people's imaginations. Money is one of our most interesting and complex artifacts. But money is not happiness. This is what inspires Jefferson's amendment to John Locke's philosophy that "no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions" to the famous "inalienable rights... life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Note the relevance to the healthcare debate. In England, following Locke, people have a right to health (and wealth). Here in the US, we have a right to follow our dreams (interpreted by capitalists as money). If I dream of apples, this might make me happy but it doesn't add to my wealth. People think they know what money is, which is perhaps one of the causes of the present unrest about the public healthcare plan. People think that public healthcare will cost tax money. They don't realize that the money goes around in circles, with the drug companies funding parties left and right in this plutocracy, making so-called health (in practice the consumption of FDA approved drugs) the most expensive in the world, precisely because there is no negotiation, no setting of limits by the government in favor of the public good, all to fill the coffers of private interests such as drug companies, HMO's, and a few very greedy doctors with money.

There is a story about the Sultan's daughter, who was sick and dying from a mysterious ailment. The only thing that could save her was an apple from the Tree of Life. But how to get that apple? The rabbi's daughter, Leah, fell asleep thinking about this. And because she was so good, she dreamed that she was in the Garden of Eden. Walking through the beautiful garden, she wondered where the tree of life was. She asked one of the animals for directions, and he directed her to the center of the garden, where she found two trees. Coiled around the trunk of one of the trees was a snake, sleeping. Remembering the story of Genesis, Leah recognized that one as the Tree of Knowledge, so she quickly picked an apple from the other tree, deducing that it must be the Tree of Life. To her surprise, when she awoke, the apple was still there on her pillow. She told her father of the dream, and he brought the apple to the Sultan's daughter, who ate it and survived.

Some thread is missing here that links all this to Annie Apple, the street peddler (and possibly former prostitute) who brings luck, wealth and health to a New York gangster in the movies Lady for a Day, a Pocketful of Miracles, and the story Madame La Gimp by Damon Runyon, possibly published together with Guys and Dolls. I suggest we take this thread, and go fishing for trout...

This argument is going around in circles, like a snake biting its own tail, coiled, perhaps, around an apple or an apple tree. Money, apple trees and trout streams can all grow in the fertile soil of our imaginations, providing we are reasonably free. Free from the threat of sudden death, starvation, and falling into illness. Free from other menaces I probably can't even imagine.

Fortunately, my son also likes listening to public radio. As we drove through the Badlands in South Dakota, we heard a reading of an essay from the 1950's by Bernard Baruch, from which I quote: "Paradise is not for this world. All men cannot be masters, but none need to be a slave. We cannot cast out pain from the world, but needless suffering we can. Tragedy will be with us in some degree as long as there is life, but misery we can banish." And also: "Because I place my trust in reason, I place it in the individual. There is a madness in crowds from which even the wisest, caught up in their ranks, are not immune. Stupidity and cruelty are the attributes of the mob, not wisdom and compassion."

There followed a program about the anniversary of Woodstock, and another on the anniversary of Elvis' death, as the freeway stretched out like a ribbon straight in front of us, right across South Dakota and into the heart of a storm, in which we found sushi in Sioux Falls, after driving around in circles for hours searching for a hair salon.