What We're Leaving--A Paragraph a Day

As a teacher of high school students, it gets rather difficult to stand in front of the class and realize that the world that my generation has created--or has allowed to develop--is not a very positive world at all.  And of course, that's not my fault, but I can't help but feel a twinge or three of guilt for the messed-up world that we're leaving our younger generations.  I tell them that, too, in no uncertain terms, and I apologize for it, though my apologies won't help them a bit when they as a people are trying to deal with climate change, wealth gaps, unequal wealth distribution, lack of medical insurance for millions of people, etc., etc., etc.  Yes, there are some wonderful things that we'll be leaving behind when we're dead and gone, but it makes no sense to try to fool ourselves or anyone else--we've made a pretty nasty mess of this planet due to the greed and avarice of a select few, and they deserve better.  Personally, since I'm not a person in the public eye with great influence over anyone at all, I do my best in my limited corner of the world to give all that I can to my students to help them deal with adversity and challenges, but I can have no idea at all if my contribution will have any positive effect at all.  I feel awful about the world that they're inheriting, but as I work with them and see the enthusiasm and hope and willingness to work of so many young people, I do feel some hope for the future that I'm never going to see--or at least, that I'll never see with the eyes of this particular body.  I hope and pray that they're able to overcome the many obstacles that we've created for them, and I do my best not to add to the problems they'll have to deal with.  I'm very sorry for the mess we'll be leaving, and I hope that they're able to prove in many ways that they're better than we have been.