We all have a part to play in the creation of a good world, a fair and just society – all for the emerging generations that are coming after us.  To be selfish, to be self-centered, to be arrogant in our assumptions that all revolves around “me” or “us” or “our generation” or for only “our people” or even for “our specific time in history” is ridiculous. It is self-deceptive and in the end self-defeating – as individuals, as a culture, as a people.

There is much to indicate that things are bad and getting worse.  If we learn from history and receive the wisdom of tradition, we know that this has always been the case.  What makes a one people different from another is, perhaps, that one dwells on the “bad and getting worse” and one dwells on “what can be.” Another difference might be this – if a people reside within a collective hubris or whether within a collective humility.

While I do not believe the locus of “salvation” rests with human endeavor, I do believe that the way humanity works and believes and behaves will certainly lead to either a good or a terrible end.  Such potential in the faces of our young people, but we as adults have an obligation and a call to make sure that the potential is realized not for ourselves or for the here-and-now, but for a good future!

The Future is Ours from Michael Marantz on Vimeo.