What is the purpose of infrastructure? Back in the 1800’s, building infrastructure was popular across a wide aspect of the population of the Western world. Engineers like Levi Strauss, designer of the Golden Gate Bridge, were also poets, and writers like Rudyard Kipling wrote odes to the engineering profession and helped set up organizations to honor engineers. Whether it was canals, railroads, telegraphs, bridges, or advances in shipping, the general public was knowledgeable and passionate about improving infrastructure in their countries and others. That is not the case anymore. Ever year the professional organization for my profession, the American Society of Civil Engineers, puts a report card out that shows a failing grade in the United States on infrastructure, and there is no popular outcry about aging (and potentially unsafe) bridges and water and sewage systems.

Why does no one seem to care? A focus on infrastructure requires an admission that our foundation is shaky, and that we cannot take our starting base in life for granted. It would be bad enough if just some of our infrastructure were at risk, but our infrastructure is at risk in every part of life. Our social infrastructure of families, communities, and institutions is in shambles. Our physical infrastructure of dams and roads and bridges and water systems is at deep risk also, something that we also take for granted. For whatever reason, the only infrastructure that seems to be popular to the general public is that related to telecommunications, such as different types of 4G networks. Roads and bridges are simply not of interest to the ordinary person, at least from what is promoted on television.

Why don’t we want to admit that our house is falling apart? In reaching for a brighter future, which all of us want, sometimes we need to build the ground underneath our feet. Often what is most endangering our present and future is the failure of having an adequate base to build on. Sometimes this base is a base of knowledge and understanding, credentials or education, whether formal or informal. Sometimes this failed base is a missing network of individuals to provide guidance and additional perspective. But all too often our individualistic focus fails to prepare us for lasting success, as it is hard to recognize the elements of our own base that are vulnerable, and hard to appreciate what help others need to better their own lives, not necessarily direct material aid, but sometimes encouragement.

What can we do about this infrastructure gap? First, and most importantly, we need to direct our focus and attention to the needs of the larger community rather than our own narrow, parochial concerns. If our focus is on maintaining and developing those goods and services that help benefit our whole communities, we can overcome the rampant selfishness and isolation that threatens our generation. Once our focus is on the larger good rather than only ourselves, much can be done. With our priorities focused correctly, there is much that can be done to help solve our problems. And if we can rebuild our social infrastructure, our community spirit and concern for others and their well-being, the other problems we face (and they are many) are much easier to deal with.

But who can tell what will happen in the future? It certainly does not appear as if we have the social cohesion to reverse our trends of selfishness, but it is possible that we will repent in extremis, and that we will be able to overcome our current problems with help from another place. To reach that happy place would require a sharp change from our present path and our present trajectory. Before we can fix the infrastructure issues that threaten our society, we have to admit that the concerns and well-being of others influence our own behavior. We have to recognize that our own private success depends on the existence of community goods that we enjoy and often take for granted, and that these goods need to be available to all so that all have an opportunity for success if they choose to take it. If we do not pay more attention to our infrastructure, and soon, there may be little of it available for the common good, and that would be a disaster for all of us.