by Daniel Sisk

Created on: February 03, 2009

I almost died last summer. We had backpacked in several rugged miles from the car, starting out late in the afternoon. We started out in shorts, in the sun, but as we climbed the sky grew darker and the breeze colder. By the time we reached our first campsite, several thousand feed above the trail head, my hands were clubs, frozen and useless; I couldn't take off my pack to get at my warm clothes. A freezing wind blew off the still half frozen lake behind us and then funneled through our camp before spilling out into the valley we overlooked. The cold seeped into my bones, and I started to shiver, the first signs of hypothermia.

Fortunately, my two teenage sons set right to work making camp and dressing me in a sweater, pants, and gloves. Soon, they had filled me with warm food, and we were all bundled cozily in our sleeping bags.

The next morning was still freezing and the bitter wind flooding our campsite prevented us from even firing up our stove. We decided to pack up and dropped down out of our polar outpost. The sky had cleared, however, and at the end of the lush valley down below, framed in steep ridges on either side, Mt Adams towered majestically above the horizon, bathed in morning sun. We lingered for a while to eat our cold breakfast from a rock outcrop high above the head of the valley and quietly marveled at this beautiful scene, this amazing vision of splendor, this fantastic view of the world that seemed only possible after our grueling climb up to this lake. From this vantage point, the day-to-day struggles and frustrations of the world down below seemed so much silliness and nonsense.

Henry David Thoreau claimed that from such a view as we stood, the true essence, the true direction of life would reveal itself to the willing and the open minded. And direction, these days, seems to be elusive if not completely lost.

Lately, many are claiming to know the direction for us and are trying to convince us they can get us where we need to go. Barack Obama and John McCain are examples of pretenders seeking to lead this country out of these trying times. But do leaders like these have the vision and courage to carry us through this struggle to new heights and achievements? Do they have what it takes to paint a new view for the future we all long and hope for?

History has given us such leaders. Leaders who look beyond the turmoil of today and lay the ground work for tomorrow:

Our founders saw a nation freer, wiser, and more just than the thirteen squabbling,

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