A Memorial Day Note about Public-Spiritedness

My father, who volunteered for the Marines after Pearl Harbor, was on the first wave that landed on Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest battles of World War II. He was lucky enough to get a non-fatal wound that the surgeons had just figured out how to repair, but he remained scarred by the experience, and was literally the most anti-war person I've ever known.

Later in life, he pursued a career in philanthropy, leading staff for Los Angeles area foundations that were established primarily as a tax dodge. Many did not have enough of an endowment to fund full-time staff, and as a consequence, their grant-making was haphazard, at best. Norton Simon hired my father to provide the staffing to evaluate the grants proposed to several foundations, so as a consequence, dad got to meet lots of the wealthy benefactors. One thing he said that I still remember: Most of these guys were born on third base, but they all want to act like they hit a triple.

More recently, I've tried to emulate at least a little of his public-spirited philanthropy with local (Sacramento) environmentalists. They face incredible odds in proposing local development practices be lower impact (see this post for a description). And they have limited success.

Nevertheless, the environmentalists soldier on...nibbling around the edges of what clearly needs to be dramantically transformed. Unfortunately, retired planners who were instrumental in building the high-impact development (sprawl) in the first place dominate most local environmental organizations opposing it.

Like the emperor in his new clothes, they have the option of saying "Oh thanks for pointing out my mistake...I'll go home and get dressed," or they could "grimly continue the parade." Most often they choose the second option.