"The one who plants trees, knowing that he will never sit in their shade, has at least started to understand the meaning of life." - Rabindranath Tagore.
I think it's easy to forget how much we benefit from those who have gone before us. The world and life we get to enjoy are the product of so much care, work, and sacrifice by our ancestors. Sometimes my mind boggles at what it took to invent cheese. Someone came up with ice cream. And wine. And human-powered flight. And central air. And the polio vaccine. And coffee! Goodness!
Most of the things that make our lives so wonderful are gifts from previous generations. Our own specific existence would not be possible if it were not for the thousands of ancestors who provided care, shelter, community, and belonging to their children and grandchildren.
When we put our lives in context, it is not just a contemporary web of connection and community that gives our lives meaning and joy. We are deeply embedded in a timeline where our lives are profoundly benefitted (and sometimes harmed) by the choices and lives of those who have preceded us.
What if your parents, or great-great-great-grandparents, had decided to immigrate somewhere different? What if your parents had been more or less supportive? What if your grandparents had had greater (or less) financial success? Our lives would be profoundly different.
Fun trivia: if a grandparent put $10,000 in a trust fund for each grandchild when the child was born, available to that grandchild when they turned 65, it would be worth more than all that grandchild could save for retirement throughout their working life.
I say this to illustrate: We vastly underestimate our impact on future generations.
As Earth Day rolls around again for another year, I am reminded what a profound gift the planet itself is: one kept in trust by our ancestors and passed on to us. I have been filled with wonder as I hike beside ancient glaciers. I have felt profound joy as I dove through vibrant coral reefs.
I got to see the mountains of northern California covered with rich pine forests, unscarred by forest fire and drought. These are all priceless treasures I profoundly want to pass on to my children and grandchildren. But unless we start to collectively take our role as ancestors seriously, we will go down as the ancestors who squandered the human family treasure.
Our choices, values, and actions matter so much to ourselves, and those who will come after. We have a deep debt to those who have gone before us which can only be repaid to those who come after. If we don't start reducing our carbon and methane emissions immediately, most coral reefs, glaciers, forests, and over 50% of the land that can grow coffee will be gone within half a human life span.
Would you wish a world without coffee on your grandchildren?
Me, neither. I hope and pray Kurt Vonnegut was wrong when he prophesied that, "We'll go down in history as the first society that wouldn't save itself because it wasn't cost-effective."
It is past time for us to stop putting short-term convenience and profit ahead of legacy and impact. Are we willing to leave a better world for those who come after? Are we willing to change our habits, inconvenience ourselves, and start uniting to save our world for the sake of all of those descendants to whom we owe a healthy planet?
Because we really can save the world. There are practical steps we can all start taking right now that add up to huge differences. We can eat less beef. We can drive less. We can walk, bike, or scoot more. We can sort our compostable trash into green waste bins. We can cut out single-use plastics wherever possible. We can trust scientists when they offer us solutions. We can plant trees so those who come after us can sit in their shade.
And whatever we may claim about loving God, if it doesn't translate into loving the generations that come after us and the planet we inherited, it's a total delusion. If there is any thing that is sacred, then this world that sustains all life surely is the holy of holies.
May we discover the joy of making a better world can start right now.
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