Quest for a Legacy

​It seems appropriate to devote my post for the first of the New Year to the idea of legacy.  Over the holidays we hand friends over for dinner.  My friend retired after working over 40 years at UW-Madison.   I consider that quite an accomplishment.  The only other person I know to work for one organization for that many years was my Dad.  It just doesn’t happen any longer.
My friend is struggling with his new found freedom.  While enjoying a few appetizers and a knock out bloody Mary (we do live in Wisconsin after all) he said he wanted to have a legacy.  He wants to do something that he is passionate about and would represent his legacy.  He’s worried that he has maybe only 10 active years left.  It is a mystery to me why he thinks he only has 10 active years left because he’s my age 65.  I fully expect to throttle into my 90’s.  He said he’s searching for something that he can contribute to build his legacy.
I found his idea surprising and unusual.  In fact, I couldn’t get to sleep that evening because what he proposes to do was unsettling and I didn’t know why.  It took me about a day but then the answer popped out of my subconscious.  
We are not in control of our legacy.  Others will decide for us if we’ve done work that deserves to be viewed as a legacy.  Also it is unusual to have the purpose of your work to be to create a legacy – it is a form of hubris.  Work that you are passionate about is done for its own sake – not with the intent to create a legacy.
Having a legacy implies that you are dead so you won’t be around to bask in your laurels or remembrance.  In the final act of my life I want to spend my time working on things I’m passionate about – writing and being a leader at my local library.  I don’t have time to worry about leaving a legacy.