Blessing of the Commons 
...that which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it.
                                                                                                             Aristotle

It all started with the shattered ceramic mug that lay in shards on the track at the middle school where I sometimes run.  I grimaced and ran around it.  As I continued around the track I ran past a huge dead tree limb, empty potato chip and nut bags, soda cans, bottle caps, pudding containers and other nameless debris littering the track area and wondered when somebody was going to come and clean it all up.   But then guilt tugged at me so I gathered it all up and deposited it in the nearby trash cans. 

In 1968, Garrett Hardin called this the Tragedy of the Commons: the phenomenon that describes a group of people who use a common area to the good or detriment of the whole.  From the local playground to the the national arena, there seems to be a sickness in our society that spreads as we think only about short-term consequences and have little concern for any long-term consequences.   Gratefully, there are many exceptions.  

The Mormon pioneers got it right.  In their trek West, under organized and forward-thinking leadership, pioneer groups established short-term settlements at Mt. Pisgah and Garden Grove, Iowa.  Even though these first parties moved on they left houses, fences and planted crops for the benefit of later companies.   

I am inspired by my good and honest ancestors.  In such acts of charity there is no tragedy...only blessing.