“Justice is calling.”

Darren Walker

Our descendants will probably outnumber our ancestors. If we can manage to survive as a species for a few more centuries, tens of billions of new humans will walk this planet. If we think ahead across millennia, there might even be trillions.¹

And here we sit in a plastic hour. Flux and danger are all around us. The ground shifts beneath our feet. And we still dream of acting towards something greater.

What lies ahead? I don’t know, and neither do you. The future is open, uncertain. What I can do is close this book with some hypotheses for those of us trying to do good in this world.

First, we can stretch our time horizons. The Earth has five billion years before the sun explodes; the least we can do is try to think in decades and not years. The billions of people who are likely to follow us deserve nothing less.

Second, we can open ourselves to new ways of thinking. to be ready to expand our personal toolbox. We do not have to fully embrace a new framework; instead we can try it on and see what it has to teach us.

“We may be brothers after all. We shall see.”

Si’ahl (aka Chief Seattle)

Third, we can zoom out of our own narrow views. When we take a broader view, we not only gain analytical insight, we build interpersonal empathy. As we zoom out from our isolated perspectives, let us also pull back from our screens. Even for a moment, we can set aside glowing rectangles and find roots in prayer, exercise, nature, or meditation.

Fourth, we can remember that the kind thing to do is the strategic thing to do. Our world is messy and complex and dangerous, but ultimately it is kindness that allows us to build up something better.

The world will not easily yield to our visions of perfection. But, in the end, we are constrained only by the laws of physics. So let us check to see if the ground is okay. Then, we can turn our attention to the hard work of doing good. Next to us is a box of tools awaiting use by a righteous hand.