The Legacy Factor

Over the years, I’ve read many more obituaries of friends, relatives, strangers, and even celebrities. They are basically a condensed form of my two favorite genres of literature—biographies and spiritual memoirs. They appeal to me because I’m relational; I like to meet people, and I’m curious about their drivers. Such posts as well as online tributes and condolences provide readers with a succinct glimpse of a person’s life, how they were perceived by others—even themselves—and what kind of information was chosen for inclusion.

I’ve determined that although such summaries and commentaries about a life may be short, one’s legacy and its impact last much longer. Varying viewpoints, outlooks, and beliefs affect the shape of an individual's personal legacy, as well as how much one may consciously care about how he or she wants to be remembered. And while carefully crafted words serve to provide a brief record that memorializes a life, they cannot wholly convey the tangible impact that someone’s life had on others.

The amount of time and where it was invested, significant or insignificant interactions with others, and shared experiences are the weighty factors that contribute to the kind of legacy one may leave. I heard the following quote by Maya Angelou a few years ago, and I find it to be quite true: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Emotions are a powerful part of the human experience. Consider how Google's English dictionary provided by Oxford Languages defines the word emotion: "instinctive or intuitive feeling as distinguished from reasoning or knowledge.” How we feel is a heart-based, synthesized emotional response to what we hear or experience. We can read to gain cognitive knowledge, but direct experience and interaction with someone involves many of our senses and thus has a more profound effect in regard to what we glean from it.

Can you think of an experience in your life or a connection with another person that elicits strong emotions? What thoughts come to mind when you recall the experience or the relationship? What was it about your interaction with that person that impacted you?

I think all of us can recall an experience or two that were either positive or negative. Since most of us would like to forget the negative ones and enjoy more positive ones, some thought should go into how we interact with people and what kind of company we may want to keep. That being said, is there someone in your life whom you would describe as being “good” company? What is it about that person that makes him or her fall into that category?

Would you fall into that category? I hope that I would, and because it matters to me, I’ve put some thought into what priorities and pursuits in life will contribute to the personal legacy I want to leave.