'A community that lacks responsibilities to others – both present and future – fails to deserve the title of community' - Your Letters plus a Picture from the Past from 1979

Need to think of the future

The post-war success story of Britain is that each generation has generally done better than the one before it. This has been reassuring for those of us with children, notably as we witnessed our parents make significant sacrifices for our benefit.

Unfortunately, this trend is now unravelling rapidly. In a recent letter, Roger Watts spoke of a country that should be fit for his grandchildren, which resonates with many of us. However, achieving this vision requires the willingness to sacrifice and prioritise the needs of others above our own.

This situation is straightforward, yet its implications contribute to the current threats to future generations and their standard of living. Society represents an unwritten contract between the past, present, and future. When we choose to live solely for today, it is the future generations that ultimately bear the burden of our actions.

These burdens extend beyond financial costs. They include rising crime rates, broken families, increasing abortion rates, and debates over assisted dying. Each of these issues exemplifies the tendency to prioritise individual desires over communal interests, thereby diminishing what it means to be truly human.

The Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Thessalonians, "He who refuses to work shall not eat," underscore the idea that contributing to society is a duty grounded in a greater design. The mindset that one has the right to freeload or assume that others will shoulder the costs of one's actions is fundamentally flawed.