“Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility. For the person who is unwilling to grow up, the person who does not want to carry his own weight, this is a frightening prospect.”—Eleanor Roosevelt
This last week was the time in my Pathophysiology & Exercise course that I ask my students to read “The Tragedy of the Commons” by Garrett Hardin (1968). They are required to write a paper on their impressions and discuss the paper in class. The emphasis of Hardin’s essay is on population, but the concept can be applied to many interpretations of “the commons.” In our case, we apply it to health care—specifically, the concepts of universal health versus universal health care. I did a similar assignment in a geography course as a student at West Virginia University in the early ‘80s. It has shaped my worldview for nearly 45 years. I hope to make the same impression on my students. Time will tell. (I still have the paper I wrote on the “Commons.”)
The thread of the Commons is woven into all my personal philosophies—including “be your best today; be better tomorrow”, as well as “opportunity costs.” Central to my understanding of the Commons are freedom and responsibility. We cannot separate the two and successfully maintain the “Commons.” Eleanor Roosevelt states this quite well in the above quote.
We must consider the “Commons” in which we find ourselves (be that the physical environment, the health care system, natural resources, families, local communities, states/provinces, nations, the world, etc.). We must ask ourselves, “What is my cost to the commons?” “Am I doing everything I can to preserve the Commons?” “How is my attitude (i.e., grattitude) towards the Commons reflected in the little things?” (Believe it or not, the Commons frequently comes to mind in some of the most mundane daily occurrences, like driving the round-abouts/traffic circles in my community or in merging traffic.)
How do we define the “Commons”, and how do we choose to interact with it? How does our view of freedom and responsibility affect our impact on the “Commons”?
If you have never read “The Tragedy of the Commons”, I encourage you to do so (it is linked above). How can you apply it in your life to….
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!
Hardin, Garrett. “The Tragedy of the Commons.” Science 162 (1968): 1243–1248