This is my home

By Soncirey Mitchell
Reader Staff

Philosophers and science fiction writers preach that humanity is an inherently selfish race. I suppose they’re right, in a way.

Hurricane Milton follows on the heels of Helene, destroying thousands of lives, yet the wealthy elite who sow this destruction continue to deny the climate crisis to protect their investments in coal and oil. They’ve decided that growing their obscene wealth is worth more than the Earth and the lives of everyone on it.

Those who have the privilege of selfishness abuse it to the fullest extent, but having grown up in a community with such a massive wealth disparity — having watched multi-million dollar second homes shade the rusting trailers of their neighbors — I have learned that most of us do not have the privilege of selfishness.

Everything is disposable to the people who live a life of “want,” rather than “need.” A sweater, house or person is only valuable until something they want more comes along to replace it. Life’s necessities — not just food and shelter but health, education, liberty — are taken for granted because of their constant presence; and, because everything is served up so neatly, they take and take and use and waste, believing that the rest of the world does the same.

Philosophers and science fiction writers say we do.

Those of us who live in a world of need like to think that we’d do better if the roles were reversed, but can I say for certain that I’d retain all my principles if the odds were more skewed in my favor? 

I’ll likely never have the opportunity to find out, so I’ll just keep that question tucked in my frontal lobe to torment myself with when I can’t sleep.

Instead of inventing a moral high ground I can’t prove I have, I’ve come to believe that it’s far more productive to think of selfishness as just another element of humanity that can be used for good or ill.

I hear a lot of locals (myself included) complaining about rich out-of-towners coming into Bonner County and buying up swaths of land to raze and develop.

“How dare these people come into our home and do this?” is asked on countless street corners and at countless public forums.

That protective, possessive love is just another, purer form of selfishness — one that might just save the world if we harnessed it. Take possession of everything and treasure it as a child treasures their favorite stuffed animal. These are my trees; they will not burn. This is my water; it will not be polluted. These are my neighbors; they will not go hungry.

Take the instinct to possess and use it as the impetus to cherish the world and everyone in it. Be selfish and take responsibility for all we claim to own.