Long-term Thinking PT 1: The world’s best example

In many, many ways - financially (e.g., so many Canadian families are deep in debt), economically, socially, environmentally - we need to develop our long-term thinking ability.

I want to give you an excellent example of long-term thinking, then suggest its benefits and encourage its use, because I think the average person has this valuable commodity in short supply.

I would feel, oh, so important and wise, if I could give you a great personal example, but I can’t.

Yes, I’ve done some little things well. I have an RRSP that I won’t touch until I’m 69. I’m judiciously paying down manageable debt. I’m am looking to buy a three-wheeled truck to save on transportation costs. I have several pairs of sturdy used jeans with stretchy waists in the closet waiting for use. But - and this is a big but - I’m short on powerful personal examples.

However, I came across the following paragraph or two in The Sacred Balance by David Suzuki. It jumped out at me as the best example of long-term thinking I’d read in a long time, if not 62 years.

“At New College in Oxford, England, the huge oak beams of the university’s main hall are some 12 metres long and 0.5 metres thick.”


[“Or, 20 inches thick, from ground to pencil mark.”]


[“And 40 feet long, from post to sawhorse”: photos GH]

“In 1985, dry rot had finally weakened them so much that they needed to be replaced. If oak trees of such size could have been found in England, they would have cost about US $250,000 per log for a total replacement cost of around US $50 million.”

(I have to ask myself, is there a university on the planet that would spend $50 million on such repairs? Chances are very slim.)

“Then the university forester informed the administrators that when the main hall had been built 350 years earlier, the architects had instructed that a grove of oak trees be planted and maintained so that when dry rot set in, about three and a half centuries later, the beams could be replaced. Now that is long-term planning...” pg. 315

Yes, that’s long-term planning or thinking. It is also ‘rare’ long-term thinking - perhaps the best example in the world - and we may be hard pressed to find other similar examples. (If you know of one, please let me know).

We certainly would find few examples if we studied the financial picture of the average Canadian family or the use of our natural resources and surroundings.

More to follow.

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Please click here to read a post related to short-term thinking and climate change concerns.

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