Our Debt to Those We Never Knew…

Life, as we live it, is made possible by the services of many people. Whether we think so or not, we ate none of us self-made, self- sustaining, or self-sufficient. We are dependent upon all that God has given, and we are dependent upon what innumerable people do and have done, what other people learn and have learned, what other people make and have made – and the work and service of others, the great co-operative effort of too many to mention, present and past, is what keeps us alive, with enrichment of life.

We are indebted to others not only for knowledge and goods and services, but even for companionship itself. There is an endless series of services and of people in society, including family and friends, upon whom we are dependent for completeness. No man is sufficient unto himself. We owe an obligation to our forefathers along a long line, and to others yet to come in a long and endless line.

All of us have reason to be interested in all of us, from the far past and to the fat future – with an obligation to those who follow, and to pass on to them as good or better then what we ourselves have received.

All of us have reason to be helpful and to have understanding hearts, for we are dependent upon more people, past and present, than we have any real awareness of, and are more dependent upon Divine Providence than we have any real awareness of. We all of us owe so much to so many whom we never knew – to ancestors, who, in this life, we never saw – and gratitude to God for all that He has given – and thus we have an obligation to work, to serve, to understand, to forgive, to encourage, to help everyone we can, live and make a better life.

Not in any real sense is any man without an obligation to others – past, of present, or yet far future.