I Can Think On Thursday

Each week Brenda Youngerman gives us a theme to ponder upon.  This week's challenge is to write about:

Legacy

In the world, there are times when we make choices.  The results of those choices then become how we are remembered or rather our legacy.  Legacy is something I take very seriously.  It is actually why I became a professor.  As I often tell my students, I am not teaching them for today, I am teaching them for 10 years from now.  That I want to be a contributor to them having a successful and happy life.  I use the same philosophy towards my children.  My parenting is geared towards helping them acquire the skills and abilities needed to become positive contributors to the world around them.  The question is then, how do I achieve my  goals towards leaving a positive legacy upon the world?

• Legacy requires empathy.  You need to be able to consider people from multiple perspectives.  You need to understand the person/people you are working with as well as the greater world around them.  In a perfect world, you are able to combine the two in order to help them understand their place in the greater world and help them choose the path that is best for them to make a positive contribution upon.
• Legacy requires some sacrifice.  It requires you at times to really think and act in a manner that is best for others and not necessarily yourself. It is being willing to go that extra mile to provide the best incubator for positive outcomes.
• Most importantly, legacy requires love.  Love is at the heart of legacy.  It is demonstrating and inspiring others to care enough to put effort towards being emphatic and be willing to sacrifice to a greater good.  

Legacy for me personally, is about building.  It is about creating a world where people ponder your contributions and smile then act in a positive fashion themselves.  Is it not a coincidence that people write on gravestones that people were loving husbands or wives, that they were caring parents or made excellent contributions to the community.  I have never seen a gravestone that had an individual's bank account or sales figures written upon on it.   The greatest thing about one's legacy is that we are in control of it.  It is based upon the decisions we make and the actions we take.  If one makes good choices, ones legacy is more likely to be remembered as being positive.