Leaving something for future generations

By Patricia Hunt
Published: June 6, 2008

Some days I think I am living entirely off the contributions of previous generations. When I look around, I can’t see much that has been created in the last few decades.
I drive on interstate highways that were the project of the Eisenhower years. Living as I do at the intersection of both east-west and north-south interstates, it is hard to imagine life here with just U.S. highways, the only corridors before the interstate system was built. I am too young to have contributed so much as a nickel to the creation of the roads I use constantly. From what I read, we can’t even seem to maintain the bridges that were built by others.
I love to get out on the Blue Ridge Parkway from time to time, but I wasn’t around to contribute to that either. It dates back to the Roosevelt years.
Most of the public parks I use were created long before I was born. Sherando Lake was opened in 1936; the labor to create it done by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Today, due to budget restraints, volunteers rather than employees work the gate where you pay. It seems the U.S. Forest Service is as hard pressed financially as all the rest of us, yet this recreation area is so heavily used that there are many times you can’t even get a campsite. We owe a previous generation a debt of gratitude that it exists at all. 
Staunton opted to spend a lot of money on capital improvements downtown: brick sidewalks, buried utility lines, fancy street lights and an expensive parking garage. It was certainly a controversial project. Was it worth it? People would not agree, I’m sure, but how will people feel about it in thirty years? That may be the more important question. Will the next generations be glad the money was spent the way it was? Will their lives be better because of the sacrifices made by the generations before them?
I remember hearing a story about a man who worked on the Blackfriars, the Shakespeare theater in downtown Staunton. If you are a carpenter or other tradesman, it is rare that you get to work on a public building, especially an astonishingly beautiful one. When he saw the finished structure, he wept. His work would be there for the ages. He was so grateful to have something significant to leave behind. His name was listed nowhere, but he knew he had contributed, and his children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren could see what he had done.
Possibly the greatest contribution we could make to future generations is solving problems like our broken health care system. I am sure they would also appreciate not being left huge debts to pay.
When I think about these difficult decisions about what to do and what to leave undone, it is not obvious what path we should take. I know I am tempted to weigh the short-term costs more heavily than the long-term benefits. I try to keep in mind the lesson of The Jacket.
I found a ridiculously expense jacket on sale about 10 years ago. I liked it a lot, but even at half price it cost much more than I normally paid for any piece of clothing. I gritted my teeth and bought it. I am still wearing it. Per wearing, it is probably the cheapest garment I ever owned. The bargains are long gone, but I am still getting compliments on The Jacket.
What is it as a nation, as cities and states and even families that will be the equivalent of The Jacket? Or Sherando Lake? Or even the White House, Capitol, the Washington Monument, Yellowstone? What is it that future generations will rise up and call us blessed because we got it done? What will continue to contribute to the lives of people long after we are six feet under? And how do we get past the fear and resistance when we look at the price tag?
I don’t know, but I will give it serious thought on some crisp, fall day when I am willing to pay for gas no matter the cost because the view from the Parkway is too spectacular to miss. 
Patricia Hunt, of Staunton, is a chaplain at Mary Baldwin College.