Wednesday, October 23, 2013

A Founder's Perspective


“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”

This quote, written by Thomas Jefferson to John Adams in the summer of 1816, defines what I like most about Jefferson’s goal, reflected through his gardening—thinking of what is best for the future of his country.  I thought it was interesting that Jefferson spent so much time “observing, experimenting, and recording” his work.  The book noted that the foundational motivation for Jefferson’s work was to find the best varieties of sustainable horticulture that were practical and applicable to the area’s culture and climate.  It’s obvious that he had the best interests of the United States in mind as he maintained his garden.  Jefferson described his work best when he said, “One service of this kind rendered to a nation is worth more to them than all the victories of the most splendid pages of their history.”

I believe Americans today could learn a lot from Jefferson’s perspective.  Often, we make decisions that we know will benefit us either in the present or immediate future, and we often discredit or completely ignore the possible long term consequences that our country and its people could face due to our course of action.  I don’t believe this done with malicious intent; rather, we have grown accustomed to a society that demands a quick fix and easy solutions.

When thinking about the differences in Jefferson’s attitude and our country’s today, I immediately think of the financial decisions at both individual and group levels.  On an individual level, it seems that a vast majority of Americans struggle with making financial decisions that will benefit themselves or their families in the long term.  We often confuse our wants with our needs, and think that the satisfaction found in immediate gratification far outweighs the satisfaction founds in decisions that give us a stable, dependable future—even if it requires a sacrifice today.

In a more general and applicable sense, it seems that our country’s leaders often don’t understand the value in thinking of the future when making decisions today.  I’m not trying to make a political statement or say that one political party is more right than the other—there are certainly aspects of every decision that I am not aware of and do not fully comprehend.  But, I sometimes fear that many of our decisions depend on the ever-changing public opinion of the day and do not consider its long-term affects.




Our Founding Fathers seemed to be extremely gifted at maintaining this wise perspective. Maybe our status as a “fledging nation” required each decision to be carefully weighed in terms of our future as a united people, but it seems that each decision was made out of a dutiful sense of right and wrong for our country, and not off of public opinion polls that sway with the times.

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