Marc Legare is a philosopher and motorcycle adventurist.
He has travelled extensively, worked and lived in Australia, US, and across Canada.
He has a varied working career including: Firefighter, Lawyer, Navy, Motorcycle Importer, plus others.
He chose to return to southern Saskatchewan because of his family's deep roots here.
The Great Wall of China is perhaps the most amazing structure man has ever built. More importantly, when you consider the ideology behind building it, you come to realize something telling about ourselves. That wall is tangible evidence of just how different our priorities are compared to those who constructed that incredible icon.
The Great Wall took 400 years to build. That is astounding. What is most curiously fascinating is it was started by people who knew full well it would take many generations to complete. That is a mind-bending truth.
Imagine the attitudes, beliefs, and mentality of a people who would start such a construction project, knowing it would not be completed for centuries. The fact that the benefits would not be felt for generations is perhaps the quintessential example of just how different a world we live in today. They decided to build something, not for their offspring, but for the offspring of twenty generations down the road. They built it for people who could never fully appreciate their herculean effort, let alone know the millions of labourers who did so on their behalf.
Today, we would never consider beginning such a project that would only help people four centuries in the future. Not even close. At most, we consider a generation or two down the line, and even that is more than questionable.
Our modern minds barely think beyond ourselves. When we look around the world, can we see any construction project that is not for our immediate benefit? Can we identify a task being undertaken for the sole betterment of people living in the year 2421? No. We are far too attentive to immediate gratification for that.
That is why the "Great Wall mentality" is so astounding and worthy of contemplation because it clearly shows us just who we are, and who we are is not that altruistic in comparison. Doesn't the ideology of building the Great Wall make us, and our attitudes, look rather selfish?
Many may argue that our advancements are for the generations that follow. Indeed, perhaps some of our accomplishments may be a net good for people far removed from our current time. However, we are not doing anything specifically for them without any good going to us in the first instance. That is the difference. We are out for our current selves or our direct offspring and our present day immediate satisfaction is at the forefront of our mentality. It does not enter our minds in any way to think about people in the year 2421, let alone start something that is directly and uniquely beneficial to them alone.
Since we are discussing the thinking pattern of people long ago and far away, perhaps it is appropriate to recite a quote from one of their philosophers. In the words of the Buddha, "To live a pure and unselfish life, one must count nothing as one's own in the midst of abundance." In our age of abundance, the opposite is true.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
