Perhaps it’s because I’m only a few months away from turning 50, and that a few days after that our country turns 250, but the thought of “time” is ever present in my mind, whether it’s the past, the future, or the here and now.

At any given moment, depending on how one is feeling about themselves and the world around them, a person could be sad or happy about what has come to pass and what is yet to be.

I recently heard for the first time a Chinese proverb that I googled to make sure was real–“All of the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today”.

I don’t know if it’s because of something inherent in our makeup as Americans, or simply the ongoing effect of being in a capitalist society, but as a student of history one big recurring flaw that I see in our country is that when we make mistakes through the years, it is because we are thinking only of the short term and not about the long term consequences of our actions or inactions, as the case may be.

I wonder how many Americans have the thought cross their minds each day that while our national conversation is perpetually torn in two, that our competition in the form of China, Russia, India, and Europe are consciously working to fill the void of leadership we leave behind and even further hasten our descent from our unique position in world affairs as its only superpower?

I wonder how many Americans have the thought cross their mind at all, that every day that our national debt continues to explode unabated that it further darkens the long term clouds over our country for future generations?

We have proven that we are very good at kicking the can down the road, but we never look to see what that road looks like further ahead, and what the consequences might be.

For most of our history we relied on the concept of “noblesse oblige”, where the rich felt obliged by their upbringing to give back to the masses in the form of public service, charitable giving, etc.

This was always a crutch for those in the 99% to not have to think too hard, to not feel too bad if they didn’t vote, because somewhere somehow one of their betters would pick up the slack and keep the country running properly.

This mindset helped lead to the election not once but twice of our current President. I’ve lost count of how many of his supporters over the years have just dismissed any concerns about him by either stating that he didn’t have to run, he was doing this as a sacrifice for the nation, or that even if he is a menace and problem, that others around him will make sure the right thing gets done.

I do not believe that all members of the 1% are bad, selfish, amoral, and greedy, nor do I believe all members of the 99% are tuned out and apathetic.

But we cannot continue to live under the delusion that simply because it costs a lot of money to run for office in our broken and perverted system that only rich people should try.

Yes, there are still many in our upper classes who have an admirable mindset of noblesse oblige, but what we need more and more of is, to a coin a new French term, citoyen oblige.

From this day forward, every citizen must see it as their highest duty to educate themselves about the issues of the day, to vote, where possible run for elected office, to hold elected officials accountable for their actions and decisions–in short, do everything within their power to leave our country better off than they found it.

If we can do that, then there should be no reason to fear what will blossom from the seeds of today in the next 250 years.