“Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors,” once stated Jonas Salk, the scientist who developed the first effective polio vaccine.

     I was immediately drawn to this quotation when I came across it yesterday.  There is deep wisdom in these few words.   Taking Salk’s words to heart means thinking very carefully about how the way we live today will affect the world we leave to our great-great-grandchildren.

     And Salk’s comment reminds me of the ancient Iroquois principle of responsibility to the seventh generation after one’s own.  Such wisdom. 

      

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 2:20 pm and is filed under Insights and Visions on the State of the Earth. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.