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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 30, 2017)
1C THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 2017 CONTACT US Erick Bengel | Weekend Editor ebengel@dailyastorian.com WEEKEND BREAK FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorian THE DURABLE GOOD OUR MARK ON THIS EARTH IS DETERMINED BY THE LIVES OF OTHERS THAT WE MAKE BETTER. NO OTHER METRIC SEEM LASTING. Kathy Aney/EO Media Group Members of the 2017 Hermiston High School graduating class and their family and friends listen to one of the speakers during the graduation ceremony in the gym. helped save a life or prevent a violent injury. I imagine those lives touching others, saving and creating, rippling across time around the world. That “Most of the trouble in the world is caused by is a durable good. people wanting to be important” — T.S. Eliot I used to think that every man aspired to immortal- ity by creating something that would still exist centu- graduated from High School 30 years ago this ries after he was gone. Whether it be a novel, a work year. of art, or carving a farm out of wild forest — some I don’t much recall what my ambitions were material legacy to pass on. As if doing so keeps our at 18 years other than aspiring to fame and fortune shadow in the world. through the wit of my pen or the sound of my voice. Yet the truly durable good is in those who spend I’m reaching the point where I need to their lives teaching, healing, saving and pro- think more about legacy than aspirations. tecting our fellow misbegotten humans. We spend our lives collecting totems and There is a reason there are never enough objects that signify our accomplishments, our teachers, nurses, doctors and police offi cers. growing economic independence and suc- Dealing with people is very hard, taxing on cess. We build messy fortresses of possessions the soul. The people we interact with come to around us. When we need to move on, these us burdened with a lifetime of baggage, and great purchases become anchors, keeping us we have to fi ght through to make even a tiny from sailing on the open ocean of our lives. impact on mind or body. It is often diffi cult to Ed When Amy and I were fi rst married, years see their quiet everyday impacts on the future. Hunt before we had children, we’d stop at The coast guardsman who plucks antique stores and yard sales looking a drowning man from the ocean, the for things cast off by others. We had a fi refi ghter who cuts a woman out The truly big empty house to fi ll with furniture of a wrecked car — their monetary and art. Twenty-fi ve years and two compensation pales in the light of durable daughters later, we are tripping over the number of lives they change in a these material ghosts that will not career. good is move on to their afterlife. We sell, we Yet their life-changing impacts in those donate, we give away things our chil- are by comparison much easier to dren have outgrown. divine. who spend In sorting this fl otsam and jet- It is so much easier to under- sam of the ebbing tide, we occasion- value the service of our daily inter- their lives ally stumble upon a treasure — some actions with other human beings, object heavy with the weight of sig- teaching, our generosity of time and knowl- nifi cance and sentimentality. edge. Patience is the most valuable healing, Yet objects only hold this power commodity that no one ever buys. It when they symbolize some accom- changes lives. saving and plishment, or some human inter- Who has more patience than par- action that evolved our existence ents investing a third of their lives protecting on this earth. Touchstones get their into raising a child — a child stable our fellow power from a life-changing event, a and kind and imaginative enough to memory of a friend, a loved one lost. the world? misbegotten change These we tuck away. Should those children be blessed Beside the roadways now, yard with good teachers and kind men- humans. sale and garage sale signs prolifer- tors, won’t their lives echo outwards ate. We are starting the season of sell- across the centuries, immortal in a ing and buying things that will not million unseen interactions of kind- fade away when their utility to their current owners ness, healing and teaching. Isn’t that a durable good? is exhausted. My father and mother taught me the most dura- At the same time, we are surrounded by young ble lessons of my life. My father taught me to work people graduating from high school, and heading hard and never stop learning. My mom taught me that off to attend college, to serve in the military, to start things are just things, not a one half as valuable as a careers and families. single human being. The contrast is stark in my mind. It is no wonder all three of us kids spent our lives Too often we have come to emphasize the build- serving others. My brother is a paramedic, my sister ing and buying of things, and disparage the service spent her life protecting children and the elderly from economy. abuse for the state of Oregon. Yet service comes in many forms, including doc- My sister passed away after only 49 years. tors and fi refi ghters, nurses and teachers — these are At her memorial, hundreds of people came from all all considered part of the service economy, and create over the country. The gathered faces were not her cli- improvements in people’s lives. ents, but rather the friends and coworkers, neighbors Yet when we measure our economy, our focus and children grown to adults that she had touched in is on the manufacturing and purchase of “durable her life as a neighborhood mother with a generous goods.” heart. Something about this term bothers me. After all, I think of all this in this season of caps and gowns what creates more durable good in the world than a and garage sale signs. Our mark on this earth is deter- teacher? mined by the lives of others that we make better. No Service is not some second class to the creation other metric seem lasting. of objects, of wealth, of fame. Our politicians wax It is a hard measure to use. Helping others is hard. hagiographic about factory jobs. Yet service is now Raising good children is hard. Being kind — just the largest part of our economy, and it includes peo- being kind to people who don’t look like you, or think ple doing much to make the world a better place than like you, or worship like you — having simple kind- they found it. ness in your heart for those not of your tribe is hard. We all have at least one teacher or coach that Immortality doesn’t come easy. touched us and changed our view of the world. Yet there is only one way to create a truly dura- I have had the opportunity to get a taste of teaching ble good. by mentoring young journalists through an internship Ed Hunt is a writer and registered nurse who blogs program. I precepted new nurses, taught EMTs and on medical issues at redtriage.com and on other sub- CPR and crisis intervention. I am gobsmacked when jects at theebbtide.blogspot.com. He lives in Grays a former student tells me that something I taught them River, Washington. By ED HUNT For EO Media Group I Submitted photo Ed Hunt’s first grade class photo. Hunt is at the top row, far right. Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian The Astoria High School Class of 2017 held their annual parade through downtown Astoria. Danny Miller/EO Media Group Seaside Principal Dr. Sheila Roley hugs students as they cross the stage during the 2016 Seaside High School graduation cere- mony at the Seaside Convention Center.
