No one reads his or her epitaph or hear the eulogies they say at his or her funeral.
Someone said “be ashamed to die until you have done something for humankind”. How truer a statement. And it impels us if we really care, I think, to ask the questions: what is my purpose on earth? What do i owe my fellow beings? What do I consider to be success? If it is true that “mor forloo mu morleti, mor laabangho mu morluleti” or “niit, nitt moryeh garaabam”, then one should be ashamed to die before he or she has done something for the “morlu” or “nitt nyi”… For who actually becomes who without the people?
Thus, everyone, I think, should worry about his or her legacy; how she or he is remembered long after leaving the stage; what memories people have about their lives together; how the family, organisation, community, country, group fares along in his absence… Apart from having the ability to influence and galvanise people around a shared vision, I think every leader, at every strata of life, and especially as an individual, should be preoccupied with the kind of legacy he or she leaves behind.
For what is life worth living, if people can’t remember for any positive thing you have contributed to their lives or that of your community or country. Think about it.
Thus, how i wish we are all concerned about how we want people to remember us long after we are gone; when the history of our country, our organisation, our community, our school, etc., is written? What space we want to occupy therein – a full page, half page, honourable mention or just a footnote? People would talk about us. But what do we want them to say about us? That we played on our fiddle, unconcerned and indifferent? That we endured the back stabbing but trudged on, mindless of the danger to our persons but aware of the greater benefit society will reap as a consequence? That you were just an encumbrance, pulling down climbers by their shirts, erecting obstacles and changing the locations of signposts? That you soothed or mended broken souls, provided a shoulder to lean and cry on, gave solace to dejected fellows? That you built capacities, nurtured talents, made colleagues greater than yourself with a smile? That God endowed you with riches but you refused to uplift or support the poor? That you had power but used it like a giant? That you had eyes but refused to see, mouth that couldn’t talk and ears who could hear? As a leader, political or otherwise, did you create only followers or you rather produce leaders and leaders, people who can take the organization or institution to a better and greater level? Can the organization or institution go without you, dispensing with you even if you remain indispensable? Can people judge your leadership on how well your people or organization or institution did long after you have gone? Can your value be measured by what succession you leave behind?
Whatever, remember we have a choice to decide how we would want to be remembered, what statement we would want to have written on your tombstone? And people will talk about us when we are finally gone, long after the dust have settled.
But a caveat…While we should worry about our legacies, worry less about what eulogies or tributes people will pay you or what epitaph they would inscribe on that tombstone. Worry more about what the Angels will tell God about you when you stand before Him on His Throne. Your Character, not Reputation, is what would count. What people know you to be and who you really are, could be worlds apart. The Angels will speak about who you really are…
Christ Musgrove: Success is not measured by what you are leaving to, but what you are living behind.
“What is success?
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate the beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!.. Ralph Waldo Emerson
