Legacy.
(3 minute read)
I was at a funeral the other day, and it offered me the chance to reflect on what really matters.
As I looked around the magnificent church, the ornaments, the marble work, I listened to the priest recounting the life of a great man.
There was no talk of his career. No talk of his achievements and material success.
But of his character, the way he operated in the world, how he made others feel.
The way he approach life, even as death drew close.
We will be remembered not by what we do, but the feeling we evoke in people.
By the higher calling we are led by.
The things we hold in the highest regard, the principles we demonstrate, the ideas believe in - these things will continue to live on.
I think we live in a desperate attempt not to be forgotten. Yet in a hundred years we will all be ash.
And yet I find this notion comforting, and leads me to think bigger and more beautifully.
The only part of me that will survive the test of time will be the spirit that I transmit. And the things that I create.
I am a living, breathing legacy of my forefathers - they’re remembered so viscerally through my every breath.
And when I think of what else lives on in our lives, what else is remembered.
It is everything that is both beautiful and transformative.
We of course can think of the work of Michelangelo, DaVinci, Turner, Turing, Graham-Bell.
How these creations live on, creating a legacy for generations.
I find this inspiring me to want to create beautiful things. But this needn’t be reserved for reserved solely for Nobel prize winners.
The painting you create, the article you write, the wall you build, the business you set-up.
All of these things are works of art that transmit beauty and legacy over the coming generations.
I find the shortness and fragility of life gives me permission to dream in all that I do. It gives me permission to create beautiful things, whatever they are.
In everything we do, we are creating legacy. Our work is deeply important.
That wall you build at the end of your garden might be seen by hundreds of thousands of people over 90 years, why not make it gorgeous?
The article you write might be seen and read by hundreds.
The business you build might touch the lives of people across decades.
In everything we touch, we are leaving a legacy.
So why not make it a beautiful one?