100 Years Ago: July 1921 - National Geographic's Collectors Corner2024-03-28T21:21:37Zhttps://ngscollectors.ning.com/forum/topics/100-years-ago-july-1921?commentId=1029239%3AComment%3A266739&feed=yes&xn_auth=noRE: the gift of trees and lan…tag:ngscollectors.ning.com,2021-07-03:1029239:Comment:2667392021-07-03T15:30:52.188ZScott T. Shierhttps://ngscollectors.ning.com/profile/ScottTShier
RE: the gift of trees and land:<br />
<br />
I always cherished this episode and time period in the Society's history. The whole manner in which the membership was included, that is, made to feel a part of a great endeavor put the "We" and "Us" in the idea of "our Society". This is a prime example of why people felt their National Geographic Magazine /subscription/ was never about a magazine per se, but rather a tangible receipt of being part of something worthy, something that mattered.<br />
<br />
This feeling…
RE: the gift of trees and land:<br />
<br />
I always cherished this episode and time period in the Society's history. The whole manner in which the membership was included, that is, made to feel a part of a great endeavor put the "We" and "Us" in the idea of "our Society". This is a prime example of why people felt their National Geographic Magazine /subscription/ was never about a magazine per se, but rather a tangible receipt of being part of something worthy, something that mattered.<br />
<br />
This feeling for-and-amongst the membership was cultivated and maintained with great care, even on through the Melville Bell Grosvenor and Gilbert M. Grosvenor eras, but was pretty much abandoned after that. Gary Knell tried to resurrect this aura a bit after 2014 . . .<br />
<br />
Back to the trees ---> it was a prescient and a sound investment by the Society and the American public at the time, for as one of my favorite (ancient) Greek Proverbs tells,<br />
<br />
“Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”<br />
<br />
There's something so unselfish about that proverb that I find comforting and hopeful. Ask not what your planet can do for you, but what you can do for your planet, eh?