Hand-Me-Downs

What will you leave for future generations, or do you care? I suspect most of us don’t think past children and grandchildren and the morass of accumulated stuff we hope someone wants. When our collected treasures fail to impress, we feel a little rejected. But we haven’t been socialized to think of seven generations to come, as some native cultures have. We suspect our treasures will have been lost, destroyed, or sold by then, and what difference will it make? We almost never consider the world around us as part of our legacy.

A large percentage of young people fear they have no legacy, that the human world won’t survive for seven more generations. They’re depressed as they anticipate an apocalypse. The pessimism of our times is ever present in modern depictions of life or fantasy. For example, even people who are certain they’re devout Christians don’t bother to follow admonitions from Jesus that don’t suit them, because they don’t really believe they’ll be held accountable for their actions. Good words establish them in the club. “Love your enemies” surely doesn’t mean what it says.

The problem with our present depression and cynicism is that we tend to create what we expect. Because we believe we can’t reverse the damage we’ve done to the earth, we shrug when someone suggests we try. We prioritize profit because we can see that, and it can happen fairly quickly. Fixing problems such as lack of clean water or soil or air is a long-term issue. Who will live long enough to see a happy ending? And if we aren’t here to see the result, does it matter? Wouldn’t it be nice to be rich?

For many, the sticking point is the necessity of a fresh point of view, the inevitability that we need to change some of what we like to do, some of who we are now. We hope science and technology will produce solutions like rabbits from a hat before humanity is destroyed. And they will produce solutions—some worthy, some the preface to more problems. One ironic example was illustrated in the PBS NOVA episode SECRETS OF THE FORBIDDEN CITY in which the structure used in ancient buildings (built in the 15^th century) within Beijing’s royal compound were tested and withstood an earthquake equivalency of 10.2. Yet nearly the entirety of Tangshan (68 miles from Beijing) was razed by a 7.5 level earthquake in 1976, killing over 240,000 people. One sad truth, then, is it takes a long time for modern people to recognize and apply ancient wisdom. We like to think we can do better in all things—and do it faster and cheaper. Thus, plain old stubborn pride closes our eyes to ideas or weaknesses we want to ignore.

The truth is that the majority of our stuff, achievements or celebrity will be utterly irrelevant in the future. But we certainly can improve the world legacy we leave, and some are busy doing their best on large scales and small. (A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FUTURE BEYOND THE NOW on PBS explores some efforts.) Perhaps the simplest and most readily available improvement we can make is to treat our fellow living beings—human and nonhuman—as colleagues and the entire earth as our home, realizing that each of us has a role to play and we work best when we cooperate. We can create a kindly atmosphere in which we donate our disparate skills and talents to the community. We can stop seeking out enemies and realize we’re all family on a level not that far away, destined for the same future fate.

Or not.