Wichita State students planted wishes in a time capsule. Will we listen? | Opinion

In the spring of 1996, as Wichita State University prepared to celebrate its centennial, a group of student leaders did something rare: They wrote a message not to their peers, not to their successors, but to students 100 years in the future. I was honored to author that resolution, passed by the Student Senate and placed in the university’s time capsule. Now, as we approach the 130th anniversary of WSU, I would like to share that message again — this time with the living.

The resolution was born from urgency and hope. We were young, but we saw clearly the fractures in our world: ecological collapse, ideological division and the persistence of bigotry in all its forms. We wanted to speak across time, not just to warn, but to affirm that love, compassion and understanding are not naïve ideals — they are survival tools.

Here is the full text of that resolution, passed April 29, 1996:

Title: Centennial Message to Class of 2095

WHEREAS, the following clauses represent the Student Government Association’s concerns, and hopes for those students following us in the coming one hundred years;

WHEREAS, we are concerned that the problems facing contemporary culture will preclude future generations from enjoying the life and experiences we have been privileged to have;

WHEREAS, among the dilemmas we face are the overpopulation of the planet by the human species which has and will continue to result in environmental degradation and the destruction of ecosystems of which we are dependent upon for our survival;

WHEREAS, the aforementioned result is an extension of ideologies which promote individual over community, a hierarchy of human beings based upon race and gender, materialism which results in greed and self-interest, and the lack of global consciousness which allows us to see ourselves as a part of a whole, interconnected and interdependent upon each other;

WHEREAS, we the Student Government Association of Wichita State University hope that we can develop an awareness and spread the message for an end to racism, sexism, homophobia, heterosexism, ethnocentrism, nationalism, religious based persecution and all forms of bigotry and hatred that prevent us from becoming fully actualized human beings;

WHEREAS, should you be reading this resolution in the year 2095, something we hope for but can never know, and while we understand the perception of reality in your time will be very different from the one we know, we dream that the values of love, compassion and understanding will endure, and we believe that proof of their endurance will be manifested in the survival of the human species;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be placed in the Wichita State University Time Capsule to be presented to the student body in the year 2095.

Thirty years later, I still believe in the power of that message. It wasn’t just a student resolution — it was a spiritual declaration. We were calling on future generations to remember that survival is not merely technological or political. It is moral. It is relational. It is rooted in how we treat one another and the planet we share.

To the class of 2095: If you are reading this, you are the proof that love endured. And to the readers of 2026: May we live as if they are watching.

Pastor David Howard Wilkinson is digital prophet of Saint Tech Church of Jesus Inc. in Lawrence.