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.