LET'S ADD TO HUMANITY by Edmont About - Le progrès (1864)
1. We do not ask you for miracles, we only want you to leave something behind. "Whoever planted a tree before he died did not live wasted." There is an Indian proverb that says so. Indeed, he added something to humanity. The tree will bear fruit, or at least shade, to those that will be born tomorrow.
2. A tree, a roof, a tool, a weapon, a piece of clothing, a remedy, a demonstrated truth, a scientific discovery, a book, a statue, a painting: this is what each of us can add to the common treasure.
3. There is not a wise man today who does not feel himself bound by invisible threads to all men past, present and future. We are the heirs of all who are dead, the partners of all who live, the providence of all who will be born.
4. To show our gratitude to the thousand generations who have gradually made us what we are, we must perfect human nature in us and around us. To give worthy thanks to the countless workers who have made our home so beautiful and so convenient, we must deliver it more beautiful and even more convenient to future generations.
5. We are better and happier than our predecessors, let our posterity be better and happier than us. There is no man so poor and so ill-gifted who cannot contribute to progress to some extent.
6. He who planted the tree has deserved well; He who cuts it and divides it into planks has well deserved; The one who assembles the planks to make a bench has deserved it; the one who sits on the bench, takes a child in his lap and teaches him to read, deserved better than all the others. The first three have added something to the resources of humanity; the latter added something to humanity itself. Out of this child he made an enlightened man, that is to say a better man.
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