I’m going to be straight with you about where I stand.
I think most people are decent. I think responsibility beats entitlement. I think freedom comes with duty.
And I think the values and institutions we have inherited are worth preserving.
Not because they're perfect. They're not. But because they didn't appear by accident.
Generations of people built them. Sacrificed for them. In many cases, died defending them.
The rule of law. Free speech. The presumption of innocence. The ability to disagree without fear. These things are the default now. They’re so solid and permanent that we barely notice them.
Until they're gone.
There's a particular kind of carelessness that comes with inheriting something you didn't earn. You start to assume it was always there. That it will always be there. That the foundation or framework that holds it up doesn't need looking after.
It does.
You can read an excellent book about this. It’s only 12,500 words. Was written in 1909 and blows my mind how prescient E.M. Forster was -The Machine Stops.
Every generation gets to choose whether to be custodians or consumers. To add to what was handed down, or simply to spend it.
I don't think that's a political statement. I think it's just true.
Responsibility isn't glamorous. It doesn't go viral. But it's the thing that separates people who build something lasting from people who leave things worse than they found them.
You don't have to agree with every institution to take care of them. You don't have to think things are perfect to believe they're worth protecting.
You just have to notice what you've been given. And decide what you're going to do with it.
This Week's Motivator
Most of what matters in your life was built by someone else.
Your job is not to dismantle it. Your job is to carry it forward.
Do your bit.
Prompt for the Week
What's something you've inherited, in your family, community, or work, that you've been taking for granted? What would it take to actively protect or improve it this week?