Rightful Heirs

Dear You,

The first time I saw the bumper sticker, I laughed. "We're spending our grandchildren's inheritance" it read. Since I had only recently retired, I could appreciate the notion of the now "empty nesters" hitting the road and spending some of what they had accrued in their years of employment.

Years later it occurs to me that it's no longer funny. It seems that we, the aging generation, are indeed spending our grandchildren's inheritance, especially in the larger sense. We are using up that which each generation has handed down to the next -- our natural resources, our fossil fuels, our native forests, our wild plant and animal environment. Suburbs sprawl in all directions, and by sheer dint of our numbers we make for congestion and worse; even the air is unclean and the water fouled in many places.

Why this profligacy? Some time ago I read an interesting piece about diminishing resources. If, say, a certain fish stock is threatened with extinction, and only careful management will save the species, it is more likely that -- in the absence of governmental restriction -- a rush will ensue to take the very last one before someone else gets to it. In short, greed is powerful. It seems that those of us born after the world wars have become accustomed to luxury. We will not be denied . . . even if it means our grandchildren may have to do without.