The Value of a Good Legacy

Legacy is everything that will work for us, but without us. It sounds like a tongue twister, but the definition suggests three things: to create, to make what is created end up having a life of its own, and to stop doing.

Stop doing is the last step in the sequence that starts with learning to do, then doing, followed by teaching to do, then letting do, and finally stopping doing. This is the sequence that we should all follow in the projects we initiate.

Another way to stop doing will come inexorably with natural death. But that will not be our only death. There is a second death that will occur the day we are forgotten, and the things we started become extinct.

With respect to the first death, there is little to do today. It will come when it comes, and I don’t even know if it is worth putting it off for too long.

Not so with the second death. The longer it takes for the second death to come, the better. It will be a sign that we have done things well in the first life.  And there are things that we can initiate that, if they have a life of their own, can remain alive for centuries.

“What we do in life is echoed in eternity” said Maximus Decimus Meridius, played by Russell Crowe in Gladiator, to his troops before the battle in Germania. And that is what it is all about; to postpone the second death as long as possible, not so much to feel protagonist of anything, but rather to be a benefactor of the common good.

A society, an institution or a family are all ecosystems whose good functioning depends on the quality of the parts and the quality of the relationships between the parts. This is the common good. Contributing to create bigger “pies” from which more and bigger pieces can be shared. The key is in personal growth, in the improvement of relationships, and in the positive influence one can have on others.

Believing is creating. And you have to start believing more in yourself if you want to contribute to the common good by leaving a good legacy. Believe in the power of ingenuity, initiative, and personal inventiveness. Believe in order to create by setting higher expectations, trusting more in one’s personal capacity to face challenges and setbacks with epic, ethics, and aesthetics.

Believing in oneself is a task that no one can do for us. But at the same time, we have in our heads and in our hearts people who have helped us in this process. To them all our gratitude; also to those who did the opposite but indirectly helped us to be stronger inside.