A couple days ago in my Creative Writing class here at University of Wisconsin—Stevens Point, my professor wanted us to respond—to simply scribble down our thoughts—to a prompted. Here we were sitting, mildly stressed, preparing for something of an essay question. Then our professor walked up to the board and wrote down our topic:

“I am…”

That was it. Two words: Not even a sentence. Many of us looked around confused, and some (including myself) laughed because we knew this lack of direction was the professor’s intention; after all, it was a creative writing class.

I went to work following my train of thought (a train with an admittedly unfocused operator) and just wrote down whatever it passed.

First I was reminded of an exercise in my high school A.P. Psychology in which we were asked to write down all of our roles. We all have roles, even if we don’t realize it. We are all students or workers or volunteers. We are mechanics or writers or gardeners. But what we often forget is that we are all son or daughters, many of us are brothers or sisters, and some are even fathers or mothers. On top of that, we play the role of friends to many and we, without exception, are all humans.

Yes, being human is a role. It is both an identity and a responsibility, and many forget this. We are organisms of a community like wolves or elephants or some species of spider. Should we dismantle our silk bridges just because we have crossed them? No, others can cross them. Should we let the spoils of our hunt decay simply because we are full? No, it can feed more than just us.

The world is a small place and when we act as though we live in our own little kingdoms, so are its resources. If we selfishly let every bit of work we’ve done go to waste simple because we are no longer benefiting from our own labor, the world would have never been built: Every ancient society has contributed to ours. What if everyone who came before us burned every book and toppled every building once they deemed themselves done? We wouldn’t exist at all! We would be reset every time as simple cavemen rediscovering the simplest knowledge.

So why do some people in our modern society act this way? They throw out food when they know who is hungry. They waste money on frivolous things simply because their basic needs are met. They erase what they have written simple because they have already read it.

Our society cannot survive without finding use for the resources that have none. If life is a game, it is cooperative, not competitive. Our society cannot survive without these logical acts, acts that cannot even been considered selfless because it takes nothing essential from the person giving it.

Let’s all make sure we don’t end here.

Our legacy must live on.