My wife Ty and I have experienced special moments in all six Vineyard towns over the years: a small herd of cattle wandering across our front lawn in rural West Tisbury, a concert of local musicians on the tall ship Alabama in Vineyard Haven harbor, a soft serve ice cream in July at the Galley in Menemsha. Each of the Vineyard’s towns offers its own special flavors of summer pleasures and experiences.

As a special kind of place with a unique kind of spirit, the Island offers up a good sampling of moments that reflect the joys of Martha’s Vineyard overall.

For example, recently returning home on the ferry, we heard a general announcement to loud cheers that the regional high school girls’ tennis team was also on the boat and bringing home their fifth straight state title. Another time, attending a fundraiser with people from every town to help Flatpoint Farm recover from a devastating fire, I got to hear Kate Taylor belt out Hank Williams’s Jambalaya. Another time I learned about Adam Turner and the MVC staff winning a $250,000 grant to reduce or eliminate nitrogen in our coastal ponds.

For me, the experiences of what I call the “one Vineyard moment” stand alongside the experiences of the Vineyard’s distinct towns in making the Vineyard a special place to live, work and play.

I’m sure that all of us in all the towns share an increasing concern about the future of our Island. Environmental challenges, economic challenges and the continuing press of more and more people in the summer threaten the things that are special about this place.

A poignant PBS series airing this month called Chasing the Moon celebrates NASA’s early space program through the successful landing on the moon 50 years ago. Ken Cox was the lead engineer for Apollo and later became the lead futurist at NASA. In this role he was responsible for envisioning the capabilities and requirements of space missions 150 years into the future that would involve missions that would be multi-generational.

Amid all the complex technology this obviously involved, one thing emerged as Ken’s primary concern: the challenge of creating a unified community that could thrive while living together in a small ship moving through space. He discovered that the best way to build a strong sense of community was to create a common sense of purpose that would provide the vitality that could sustain a multi-generational journey.

We who live on Martha’s Vineyard — both year-round and seasonal residents — are in a sense also traveling through time while living our lives together in a small space. I believe that our journey too will be most successful if we create an Island community that shares a common mission — a mission for the Island to be sustained as we know it through multiple generations.

What will the Vineyard look like in 150 years? What will we bequeath to our descendants? If we accept a common purpose guiding the Island into the best possible future, I believe regional (read Islandwide) planning uniting all the towns with common purpose will be a critical step in our success.

To pursue that end, I and others have founded Vineyard Futureworks, an organization that hopes to play a small role in fostering and facilitating cooperation around a common mission across the Island — toward a better Vineyard future.

Bob Johnston

West Tisbury

Vineyard Futureworks will host an event titled Making Tomorrow’s History Together at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum on July 25. The event begins at 4:30 p.m. Presenters will speak from 6:30 to 7:15 p.m. All are welcome.