Creating Our Legacy Everyday

Remembering You

Legacies are not only left by celebrities, inventors, business magnates, and political leaders. Each one of us contributes to our legacy every day. I view legacy as the handprint you leave on everything you touch.

While careers and jobs probably come to mind first, because they consume a big part of our lives; think broader. We leave a legacy within our families, schools, communities, social organizations, and even in our neighborhoods whether we want to or not.

Social media and influencer culture incorrectly advises people they can create a legacy. I call that “Wizard of Oz Syndrome.” Toto reveals the identity of the Great Wizard of Oz when he topples the curtain. Dorothy sees a tiny man who magnifies a frightening image on the screen and amplifies his voice to gain reverence and respect from the of Land of Oz subjects.

Legacies cannot be manufactured despite what brand consultants sell; we can only live them. Our legacies follow the Maya Angelou quote, “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.”

Recently, I had the privilege of flipping through the photo albums of a friend in her 80s. The pictures showed a career of breaking barriers in business, it highlighted her leadership of teams, excelling in a male-dominated industry, and the social organizations where she invested her time and talents. That is her legacy. The people who want to learn about her accomplishments and life may not have even been born yet.

After retiring earlier than expected, a colleague who spent twenty-five years with a company decided to start a business in his family’s name. While his career in Corporate America was significant, the company will become his lasting legacy. The songs of musicians, words of poets and authors, and filmmakers' movies are not the only ways to create a legacy. Photographs, recipes, quilts, holiday traditions, sentimental items, religious observances, ancestral homes, and even family names can all contribute to a person’s legacy.

Who was Eunice Tellis Howard, August 4, 1921- September 19, 1998? She is an example of an everyday person with an extraordinary legacy and my maternal grandmother. I remember our extended family gatherings at her home to celebrate the holidays. I remember she always had a ‘side hustle’ selling Beeline Fashions, Tupperware, or Avon at-home parties with me as her helper. We would end our time together with a stop at Dog ‘n Suds in her 1967 Cherry Apple Red Mustang. Her young life was far from easy; however, her legacy is the hope and positivity she poured into everyone she met. What is the legacy you’re creating?