I Salute the Flag. But I Pledge Allegiance to the Planet.

At the start of the trail at the Maroon Bells, there's a warning sign. In winter, the snow is "poorly consolidated." Avalanches are possible, and unforgiving. The "Deadly Bells" don't grant second chances. Even experts die here.

I thought this warning was overstated until I heard a park employee offer this advice: "If you get caught in an avalanche in winter, ski to a mature pine forest --- it's your only hope."

And then I understood that this as both a local truth and a metaphor. Danger lurks, even where beauty seems to rule. And when it surfaces, you want to be with the wise and stable, with people who are rooted --- with the elders.

George Bush, recently 60, holds the ultimate elder's job, but he's no elder. He was drunk and disorderly for the entire war that defined the character of our generation. He has always surrounded himself with men who ditched school the day the other kids learned about cause-and-effect. And now, with language no elder would use, he wages a war that must remind everyone his own age of the one we lost.

But Bush performs a necessary service, if only for his --- and my --- generation. He's a daily reminder that while he fueled his aggression, we smoked the peace pipe, put our heads between speakers and heard home-rolled mantras, took the magic pills and had visions that changed us in fundamental ways --- we learned to value right livelihood, to seek our own answers, to take the long view.

Forty years on, many things have changed. But at least one home truth from the '60s abides --- the sense that we are citizens of the world. My passport says USA, but the books I read are often have been translated, many of the movies I watch have subtitles, much of the music I hear is in the World bin.

This Independence Day offers fresh hope for our country, if only because more and more people are starting to grasp what some of us saw then: "Patriotism" and "nationalism" are cheap ideologies that disrespect their believers in fundamental --- and often fatal --- ways. Give Al Gore some credit for this. "An Inconvenient Truth" is the cinematic equivalent of a psychedelic. Once it imprints on you, you can't shake its message: We share a common destiny on the only home we've got.

Smart people my age, facing conflict, are perhaps more likely than others to remember the smart saying: "Don't pick up the rope." Yeah, we'll vote for whatever Democrat makes enough empty promises to be the '08 nominee, but we're not going to read every Kos diary along the way or engage in the pointless invective that passes for political discourse. I like to think our ambitions are bigger --- to make good on the part of the '60s that eluded us.

Hiking the Maroon Bells, you're at 11,000 feet, in a place where the last significant event occurred millions of years ago, things simplify. You get a clearer sense of your insignificance, and your importance. Here you can see how red, white and blue --- blood, purity, loyalty --- can be a powerful motivator. You can also see how green --- the color of life, nature, fertility and well-being --- is more powerful.

I'm no churl; I know how lucky I am to have been born here, to put our child to bed knowing there's no danger that bombs and bullets will find her as she sleeps. So on Independence Day, I salute the flag. But I pledge allegiance to the planet.