Opinion

I admit it — I haven’t been in touch as much lately. Oh, I’ve been thinking about you, pretty much every day. It’s just so difficult to pick up the keyboard and start communicating, because I’m so afraid That Topic will come up. It’s like the elephant in the RV.

For a while, I thought that after, oh, early November or so, things would just calm down and I could sort out my thoughts and share how I feel. And even if you sharply disagreed — nothing surprises me any more — our common future would have been decided, and everyone would either celebrate or adjust, and move on, going on with whatever passes for business as usual in these troubled times.

But, with so much riding on the decisions we have to make, I can’t responsibly hold back any longer. I’ve got to take a position, and do my best to explain it, justify it.

I’m under no illusion that I’ll change anyone’s mind. Most of us probably made our choice months ago. Those who are undecided at this point likely just haven’t been paying attention, right? Because the choice is clear.

So, let me lay it out for you.

But first, I will say that this isn’t an easy choice. And I quite realize the likelihood that I’ll feel different by this time next year. Maybe I’ll regret my choice. Maybe you’ll take me to task.

And I certainly know that Follow Toto is not your go-to resource for this kind of perspective (or, for that matter, for anything else). So you can take it or leave it. But I’ve stayed silent long enough, and I think history tells us that those who kept quiet while things went nuts around them either lived to regret it or, even worse, didn’t truly live.

So here is my thinking:

If we make the wrong choice, the atmosphere is just going to get noisier. More shouting, more interrupting, more people trying to drown one another out with sound.
If we make the wrong choice, the environment will certainly suffer. For one thing, it’s going to be warmer. Downright hot.
If we make the wrong choice, more and more people will keep behaving like children.
If we make the wrong choice, it will be harder to reach the goals we have set for ourselves.

So Team Toto has made its choice. No, we’re not repealing and replacing our earlier strategy; and we’re not just making tweaks on the assumption that we can completely fix what was surely a flawed approach.

But we’re through debating. And we’re just. Not. Going. To Do. Summer. Camping. Any. More.

We’ll go shoulder season, even rainy season. It will be so much more peaceful. Quieter. Cooler. Easier to get coveted campsites.