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I am to a point in life where I realize I am not going to change the world. The best I can do is leave the best impression on family, friends, and colleagues I possibly can.
I have a lot of unmet goals and unfulfilled dreams, but I take each day at a time.
I have a lot of met goals and fulfilled dreams and believe me this is over rated.
I have no idea what impression I have left on anyone and even if I did, impressions change.
Live your life on your terms. Never mind what others think ..... what do YOU think?
Last year, a young man I'd known for only a few months died tragically--drowned--during a vacation with his wife on their first wedding anniversary.
He was 25-years-old, a middle school teacher. I had been very impressed by him.
Hundreds of people turned out for his memorial. Students sobbed through their testimonials of how he'd positively affected their lives. Even other teachers and principals sobbed through their testimonials.
One teacher, a man who had gone through the loss of a child, said, "I could not cry with my wife, but I could cry with Darryl." Another teacher said, "I don't know how I'm going to get through some days without Darryl there to cheer me on." Principals confessed to competing to get him to their schools.
One man said that a friend named John had suggested, "I know a guy named Darryl that you'd like...you ought to meet him." Then a few days later, Darryl had called him out of the blue saying, "John told me we ought to meet...so let's meet!" And they did become good friends.
In the few months I'd known him, he showed himself as a better friend to me than I was, a better husband than I was. He was the kind of man that made other men realize they needed to step up their own games.
And he had been only 25 years old. His legacy is that several hundred people, including me, will remember him, and will be better people because of him.
My dream is to leave behind a significant passive income stream that will help the most unfortunate human beings on the planet. I'm talking about the people living in countries where there is a civil war, genocide, mass starvation etc. going on. These people live in a world unimaginable to us in a first world country.
Every day these poor people wake up knowing they may be killed, raped, lose limbs, starve, suffer grave injustice with no recourse etc. Basically I want to help the people that were given a potential death sentence from birth just from the horrible luck of being born in the wrong place.
My secondary goal is hope that I can raise one of my future children to grow up and have a passion for doing the above. Hopefully, they will manage, invest and plan in a way where the fund will grow when I pass away. Also, hopefully he/she will also raise one of his/her children to do the same when they pass away. I hope to create a fund that will indefinitely continue to grow and help the most unfortunate souls of humanity. The fund's profit would be spent in the following manner:
-50% will be donated towards causes that most benefit the above people
-20% saved toward investing in more passive income streams to grow the funds profit
-15% towards conservation/protection of wildlife and their habitat
-15% given to my heir (and his heir and so on) who manages the fund
Last edited by griffon652; 02-22-2017 at 09:36 AM..
no legacy needed from me...I hope to slip away quietly in the middle of the night not leaving so much as a rustle in the breeze..
While I admire your goal, sadly it will be hard to achieve. The dearly departed release gasses so that "so much as a rustle in the breeze" is a bit problematic... ;-)
I've learned so much in my eight plus decades of life that I want to pass that knowledge on to succeeding generations. Simple things like fixing a leaking toilet, changing oil in the car, replacing worn out light switches, pulling preventive maintenance on things so they will last longer. My son once accused me of buying junk when my 45 year old Hoover vacuum needed a new belt. "Junk doesn't last 45 years" was my reply and he took it to heart. I have many tools and machines that he will inherit and I've made stickers and tags for each one explaining what it is and how to use it. That would be my legacy.
I've learned so much in my eight plus decades of life that I want to pass that knowledge on to succeeding generations. Simple things like fixing a leaking toilet, changing oil in the car, replacing worn out light switches, pulling preventive maintenance on things so they will last longer. My son once accused me of buying junk when my 45 year old Hoover vacuum needed a new belt. "Junk doesn't last 45 years" was my reply and he took it to heart. I have many tools and machines that he will inherit and I've made stickers and tags for each one explaining what it is and how to use it. That would be my legacy.
I love a handy man. Unless you're a woman, in which case, I still love handiness.
Oh yeah .... I have an old Hoover too and they are the BEST!
When I was young, I wanted to be famous (like a lot of young people). Write the great American novel that would bring me recognition, acclaim and become an enduring classic. Write and produce the script for the movie that would become an all-time favorite. Travel around the world and write of my adventures to allow others to live vicariously.
In my older, wiser years, I've realized how miserable being well-known would have made me and what a blessing it is to be able to live a normal life in relative anonymity.
What I never aspired to be was a caregiver. But, life has its own plans. For a significant number of years, I cared for, at different times, my mom, my dad and my adult, younger brother. Had I not been there or refused to take the role of caring for my loved ones, they would have ended up mostly alone, and sometimes very ill, in a hospital. These years were, of course, some of the most difficult and stressful times of my life. They were also among the greatest gifts.
I've often seen it in families that one or, with really good luck, two will step forward and take on the caregiving role for a beloved family member. There may be multiple other healthy, able, close kin who can help, but don't.
Our extended family lives far away and, even as a shy kid, I had the often uncomfortable position of helping to keep my own family's boat afloat and on course. So, it was natural that I was IT. There is no Caregivers' Hall of Fame (and if there were, there would be too many to mention). Don't know if it scores us karmic points to fulfill that obligation. I do feel that as we treat the suffering and least able of those we care for (or those among us), it doesn't just keep our hearts right, but those loving attitudes also add to the overall positivity and well-being of humanity and our world.
Some of us may not leave behind much that points to the fact that we, as individuals, were here. But, the cumulative effect of the kindnesses we show to others (including pets and animals), I think are a huge, wonderful and, hopefully, long-lasting legacy.
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