Inherited World

It’s the time of year when we are called to reflect on the dead—All Saints, All Souls. Really, we should always be aware of those before and those coming after. We do not exist in a vacuum. We are beholden to the generations before us—our genes, our environment, our political boundaries, our existing laws, our economy, our social mores. We are born into certain circumstances, and then it our lot to maintain or change them. And then it is our duty to pass along something to the next generation. Will it be an inheritance or a debt?

In The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis says, “Each generation exercises power over its successors; and each, in so far as it modifies the environment bequeathed to it and rebels against tradition, resists and limits the power of its predecessors.”

That’s why there are generational tensions. The younger generations feel like the older ones cheated them out of an inheritance or the older generations feel like the younger ones don’t appreciate the work put in into maintaining or building the current environment.

It’s much easier to look back and point out everything the earlier generations did wrong than it is to look around and see what needs to be done for future generations. Can we do better for the next generation? Do we want to?

Individualism tells us that we are self-reliant, self-made. But we are always a part of a society, influenced by those around us, for better or worse. That is true society as a whole as well. Our generation, our society, is not self-made. That’s why studying history is so important. Whether we recognize it or not, our attitudes and philosophies and technologies are all inheritances, signs that we are but a part in the larger human family.

While millennial pessimism makes it easy to say, “Why plan ahead? The world will be under water soon enough,” as Christians, we are called to care for others, including those before and after us. We honor our elders, pray for the deceased souls, bury the dead, care for sacred burial grounds. And we should work to leave the world a better place for future generations—environmentally, economically, morally, spiritually. As the Church Militant, our sentinel on earth is limited. Keep watch. Pick up the torch.