The Civil Engineer’s Responsibility to Participate in the Affairs of the Public

My education in civil engineering was filled with teachers who were, in my life, far more than teachers. Many, if not most, of my engineering professors were also mentors, coaches, honest critics, and, in many cases, genuine friends. My time with and around these people gave me both an education and an understanding of the nature of the role of the civil engineer in our society. They also led me to a belief that, while my education may well be paid for through my tuition and fees, I can never in truth pay its real worth except by passing it on to those who are to come after me—just as all those civil engineers who never saw my face or heard my name passed it down to me.

I should add that this is not only applicable to my periods of formal training. In my professional career I have been blessed with colleagues and supervisors who were also mentors, coaches, teachers, honest critics, and friends. I often tell people that all of my “good ideas” really have come from someone else. I am simply the repository of the wisdom and experience of others, and while I have been receiving these gifts from these men and women, I have been paid as well! Recalling these blessings again reminds me of the obligation and the debt that I have that can only be repaid through my passing on of these blessings to those who come after me.

My musings remind me of the poem “The Bridge Builder,” by William Dromgoole:

An old man, going a lone highway,

Came at the evening, cold and gray,

To a chasm, vast and deep and wide,

Through which was flowing a sullen tide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim;

The sullen stream had no fears for him;

But he turned when safe on the other side

And built a bridge to span the tide.

“Old man,” said a fellow pilgrim near,

“You are wasting strength with building here;

Your journey will end with the ending day;

You never again must pass this way;

You have crossed the chasm, deep and wide—

Why build you a bridge at the eventide?”

The builder lifted his old gray head:

“Good friend, in the path I have come,” he said,

“There followeth after me today

A youth, whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm that has been naught to me

To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.

He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;

Good friend, I am building the bridge for him.”

It seems to me that civil engineers are placed in a unique role in this world and that when I accepted the title of civil engineer, when I agreed to join the ranks of those who have gone before me, I accepted an obligation quite different than with most other professions. Consider these concepts (which I propose without defense):

Because human society depends so heavily on what we civil engineers provide, I believe we have a special obligation to participate in the affairs of society—to be active community leaders, advisors, and occasionally to be active candidates for public office at all levels. One of my personal truths is that attorneys, accountants, and those trained in the political sciences—those who seem to be most often found in elected offices and responsible for the funding, construction management, and operational oversight of the infrastructure of the nation—usually have no training and little interest in the processes of needs assessment, prudent planning, excellent design, quality construction, or optimization of operations (this is not intended to be an unkind judgment of political officeholders; it is simply a statement that political officeholders usually do not possess the training and skills of civil engineers, the training and skills required to plan, design, construct, and operate the public infrastructure). When well-trained and properly experienced civil engineers are absent from the process of planning, designing, constructing, and operating the public infrastructure, critical decisions are often made on the basis of political expediency, perceived or hoped for political popularity, perceived political fear, and a host of other inappropriate reasons. The result of this absence is that bridges collapse, wastewater systems pollute public waterways, public building codes are enacted that drive up the cost of construction with no improvement in service life or safety of the facility, unnecessary facilities are constructed because of their political popularity, and necessary facilities are shelved because they lack political impact.

I am told that in ancient Athens—the birthplace of democracy—there was a prevalent saying that went something like, “He who has no interest in the business of Athens, has no business in Athens.” In that society there was an expectation of participation in the affairs of the community, and those who shunned that perceived responsibility were scorned. I have come to believe that in accepting the blessings that the civil engineering profession has brought to me I have a responsibility to be aware of what is happening in the community, in the state, and in the country, and to be active in seeing that decisions are being made at all levels that are well thought out, properly planned, designed and constructed with excellence, and operated optimally.

In The Republic, the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, in a conversation debating the optimal form of human governance, makes the case that in the beginning democracy provides a wonderful opportunity for human growth and well-being with most of the people of the community participating in the affairs of governance, doing so because they are interested in the well-being of the community. However, as the community grows and prospers as a result of this form of community leadership, more and more people become more and more comfortable and less and less interested in spending an appropriate amount of their time participating in the affairs of the community. After a time, people seek positions of leadership and public office as a way of fulfilling their personal needs for power and financial strength, with little interest in the well-being of the community. These leaders conduct their lives and the affairs of the community with a focus on themselves and hold on to their power to the point that, over time, those in public office are elected either because they are the best liars or the best actors—not because they are the most qualified! And, as history has taught us, when a society’s leaders are focused on the self—on the retention and increase of personal power—and not on the good health of the society, the society goes rapidly into decline. I am sure many reading this have heard the old adage, “The fish always rots from the head.” Communities and societies are not different.

With respect to the built environment and the public infrastructure, I believe that my chosen profession carries with it a responsibility to see that for the good of those to come after me, decisions regarding the built environment and the public infrastructure are made through reasoning, experience, and good judgment—not for purposes of political gain or convenience. This is a responsibility that I cannot avoid and one that I cannot fulfill from “the sidelines.” I need not be a political officeholder but I must maintain an awareness of what is needed and what is being considered and, when appropriate, I must actively participate whether I get paid for it or not. My understanding of the first canon of the ASCE Code of Ethics demands that I do so.

It is my hope that each person reading this essay will consider his/her position in the matter. In order to provide the full value of the benefits that we can bring to society, in order to discharge our debt to all who have built this profession and handed it to us, we must be, each in our own way, active community leaders. To choose to be a bystander is to condemn future generations to a life that is less than it could have been.

If you are a member of ASCE I again remind you that we have agreed to conduct our lives and complete our work within the guidelines of the Code of Ethics as follows:Those who came after us are depending on it.