Submission

I don't have a publication history in policy or international development, and the last time I published in a peer reviewed journal, it was in "Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics". But I feel proud of my work here. And I think it will be significant. I've submitted and it is such a relief.

On the plane ride to Orlando yesterday, I had a conversation with the man sitting next to me about the concepts of class, wealth and future time perspectives. At the lowest rung of society is the person whose vision of the future extends to only the next hour or day. Higher than that (but not much) are the people who live paycheck-to-paycheck. They do not see beyond the tactical "now". Give this person great wealth and it will be wasted - look at the lottery winners who bankrupt themselves.

My parents had a vision for the future that exceeded their literal social class. My mother, who has never completed a college degree herself, insisted that her children would reach that mark. I don't know if she had an understanding of what this would buy us, but she knew that it would open doors she couldn't dream of.

To my view, a sign of the highest social class is one which looks to build a legacy - who has a vision for the future and who lives to that vision. The man sitting next to me contended that wealth was required for legacy-building. But I disagree. Certainly it helps to have wealth, but ideas can last for generations.

You can be a Rockefeller, a Kennedy, a Smithsonian, or a Gates and your contribution and philanthropy will be linked to your wealth. But history is full of individuals whose ideas persisted beyond them. Some of the men and women with the greatest ideas were very poor, indeed.

I have ideas. Millions of them. I don't flatter myself that all of them are completely original - statistics would say that some other person at some other point in time would think the same thing. But some of my ideas matter.

So I will not be stopped by the tactical "now". The situation can seem quite bleak if this is what I focus on. I may not have a vision for my personal future - Sjors took that with him when he left - but I have a vision for what my ideas can accomplish. And this is how I will build my legacy.