There are TWO kinds of posts here.
Enjoy them all.

STORIES
tell about Legacies others are leaving.
Maybe they'll get your imagination going?

LESSONS

include stuff to learn about leaving a Legacy.
Maybe there's something to try?



So, waddya know now... A LESSON.
Your kids/grandkids know you? A LESSON.
Give 'em a smile! A STORY.
A stroll in Nepal. A STORY.
Scrambled eggs and checkers! A STORY.
Kick start your story! A LESSON.
Let's watch Grandpa's story! A LESSON.
The Dark side of being a 'Boomer'. A LESSON.
Glory - fleeting. Obscurity - forever. A LESSON.
Yikes! That me...? A STORY
Giving = Happiness? A LESSON.
Seven Legacy Myths. A LESSON.
This bus stop was a 'go'. A STORY.
Pedal & Paddle. A STORY.
Take the straw off the camel's back! A STORY.
Cathy's climb. A STORY.
So, what's your Legacy? A LESSON.

SO, WADDYA KNOW NOW...

... that you didn't know back then?

David Gould teaches Leisure Studies at the University of Utah. He asked his students to interview a person over 65 yrs. about their leisure & lifestyle when they were 21 yrs, and compare that to today's 21 yr. old.

Gould was surprised. Many students didn't want to do it. They didn't know an older person. And even if the grandparents were alive, they felt awkward asking those questions.

This was a generation gulf Gould knew had to be bridged.

He then asked seniors in the area to write a letter that he could share with his students. He asked them to give their insight on what they know now that they wish they knew in their 20s.

He waited a couple of weeks... then one Saturday morning the email flood of stories began. "I thought I had a virus" he said.

The stories were about life, loves, relationships, wisdom, aging and more. There were poems & pictures. The seniors wanted to reach out. They wanted to tell their stories.

Back to the classroom. Gould selected and read the letters, and the fuse was lit. Some students met their letter-writer and became quick friends. All the students learned the value, the joy and the fun of finally having a talk with their own grandparent. Students thanked Gould for helping develop deep relationship that weren't there before.

The stories continue to come in... and Gould has shared them with many classes in many institutions. You can hear the generation gaps close. And you can see the authors and read some of their stories at http://www.legacyletterproject.com/

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SO, DO YOUR KIDS/GRANDKIDS KNOW YOU?

When they're older, your 'Legacy Letters' will be Gold!

Rachael Freed of http://www.life-legacies.com/ teaches the writing of 'Ethical Wills'. Sometimes they're called 'Legacy Letters'. Their purpose, and I paraphrase Rachael's thoughts, is to 'preserve wisdom... and be remembered.'

A Legacy Letter can be written to your kids or grandkids at any stage of life. A series of them, infused with experience, feelings and learning... will be powerful documents when the kids grow up. An example is this Legacy Letter written by grandmother 'Baba' to her grandkids.

Dear Jessie, Nick and Melissa:
You were aware, you were here to witness the most historically important event of my lifetime. I want to give you some background to the miracle of Barack Obama’s swearing in ceremony as he became the President of the United States of America.

In 1952 when I was 10 years old, my dad and mom drove our family to Florida. It was my first time driving through the South and the first time I remember seeing ‘Negroes’. Their dilapidated houses, which we called shanties, lined the sides of the roads, sometimes had only three walls, some had boards missing on the roofs. My nose was pressed to the window and I felt pity and curiosity, confusion and fear. I didn’t know about life beyond Minneapolis. We stopped to get something to eat and I wouldn’t eat the food from their stores, accepting only a coke because it was in a bottle.

In the 50’s and 60’s my eyes were further opened by protests and civil rights workers killed, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, and race riots as the struggle for equal rights played itself out. What an awful truth knowing that our country was wrong, when I had been raised to believe we were close to perfect.

During the fall of 2004 I was invited to attend a gathering to meet a young black man running for the Illinois senate seat. This young charismatic man, with grace and passion shared his belief that we could become a better nation. Honesty and openness, caring for those who are vulnerable and leading by example were values worth fighting for.

Martin Luther King, Jr. asked that we not be judged by the color of our skin but rather by the content of our character and that day November 4, 2008 arrived in my lifetime. The enormity of the emotions of that night and the days to follow cannot be expressed in words. We celebrated, we cheered, and many of us wept because the joy was too deep, the significance too great and the price too heavy.

The lesson witnessed is ANYTHING is possible and dreams can come true. My prayer for you, dear loves of my life, is that you pay attention to the world around you and not just your world. That you see others through eyes of love and not fear, that you are quick to see the similarities and slow to see the differences.
I love you, Baba

These Legacy Letters of your experience, feelings and learning needn't be long. But they can be powerful. Take a look at http://www.life-legacies.com/ for some ideas.

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WE GIVE THEIR SMILES BACK!

...even if it means yanking a tooth!
Wonder what your Legacy could be? I wondered that too… as that big 'ole freezing needle pierced my gums. I was having a tooth pulled, then a bridge and new molar. I hated being in that chair, but Jack Hutchinson was good.

All done, we talked about our lives. Jack was organizing ANOTHER trip to South America, with his staff, to do dental work on the poor. All on his own nickel.

"We let them know there are people who care for them", says Jack. "We fill cavities, pull teeth, teach them how to floss and brush. Dentistry’s my way of giving back. And the payback is when they turn around and give you a big hug."

In the last few years, Jack’s organization http://www.dentistrywithheart.org/ has performed dentistry for over 10,000 people in Guatamala , Nicaragua, The Phillipines, Uganda and Mexico.

"We focus on girls 10-14 yrs." says Jack. "We fix their front teeth give their smile back. By changing their appearance, we change their self-esteem." Not to mention their health for the rest of their lives.

When Jack and his staff leave, who knows how many of those kids will become successes they never thought of? All because Jack gave what he does best: he took away the pain. And he let them smile again.

I asked if he thought this was part of his Legacy? "For sure!" he said. "I run into other dentists, doctors and private companies who say their lives have been affected because of what I started. What could be better than that?"

So, Jack's message: to start my Legacy journey, give what I’m good at now. "I've had a great life" he says. "This is the least I can do."

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A STROLL IN NEPAL...

Hey... there's not a book in this library!!!
A couple of years ago we trekked in Nepal. Along the way and in every town I made friends with the kids. Beautiful, memorable smiles.

Little ‘Binod’ walked with me one afternoon as he was heading home from school. He only had a tattered notepad…and no books. For eighteen months I’ve toyed with doing something for him and his friends.

John Wood didn’t ‘toy’. He did something.

In 1998, John was a rising executive at Microsoft when he took a vacation that changed his life. He too was trekkiing in Nepal and visited a school with 45 students. But the library had no books. The headmaster said to John, “Perhaps one day you’ll come back with books”. And that was all it took.

John quit Microsoft, but took with him all his professional attributes: thinking big, goal-setting, how to run a lean operation with a big effect. John built “Room to Read” (http://www.roomtoread.org/) an organization that has created a network of over 5,500 schools and libraries throughout rural and poor communities in Asia and Africa. The organization is now one of the fastest growing, most effective, and award-winning non-profits of the last decade. John has been recognized in the worldwide media as a "21st century Andrew Carnegie," building a public library infrastructure to help the developing world break the cycle of poverty through the lifelong gift of education.

“You don’t have to be Bill Gates or Warren Buffett” says John. “I’m just an ordinary guy with a dream… and now we’ve put two million books in hands of kids around the world. You just need passion, energy and drive.”

John’s book "Leaving Microsoft to Change the World" tells the story of helping children in a rural Nepali village… and the development of 'Room to Read' quickly becoming a global movement promoting literacy and education. And it was just a good idea... and a bit of focussed talent.

Says John: "I agree! Create your Legacy while you're alive, when you can see it and enjoy it."

One of your Legacies could appear on your next walk. Keep your eyes open!

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SCRAMBLED EGGS... AND CHECKERS.

So, what's your next move?

One of John Cardie's legacies will be kids who think before they act. Kids who thoughtfully plan their next move, when it counts.

John lives in Denver and was talking to his ten year old grandson and a few of his friends. The time seemed right to teach them a lesson. “I’ll buy you any car you want when you graduate IF you’ll do something for me” he said. The boys yelped their enthusiasm. “Any car?” they said. “Yup” said John. He gave them each a small cup and one egg. “Please scramble the egg,” John said. They did. “And now do this and you will get any car when you graduate.” They beamed and waited. “Unscramble it” John said.

Lesson learned. Once you scramble an egg, it’s hard to undo. His father taught him this. And he taught it to John by playing checkers. “Checkers teaches kids forethought, planning & consequences… the ability and necessity of thinking things through, “ says John. So he wrote a book: “How to beat Granddad at checkers” (http://www.checkerscreateskings.com/).

“It’s a book that helps adults teach kids thinking and planning… and that once you make a move, you can’t take it back" says John. "And that’s what life’s like." The book has been critiqued as “life lessons from a seasoned checker maven. A fun format for kids to read and understand,” but one for parents and grandparent too to help connect with and teach their kids. John donates sales revenue to the American Checker Federation youth program. He says “There’s more to checkers than pushing plastic”, and he knows his Legacy will be kids who recognize a ‘dumb move from a smart move’, in checkers and life.

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5 WAYS TO KICK START YOUR STORY!

Enough thinking about it. Do it!
I think there's three 'streams' of Legacy... Legacy that you enjoy NOW, knowing others will benefit when your gone:

1. Money... what you can do with it to benefit others

2. Story... telling yours & your family's so your relatives hundreds of years from now know where they came from

3. Action... all the stuff you can do... like putting swings in a park for the kids, to teaching skills so lives are changed, to volunteering to build homes in a poor country, etc.

IF you'd reeeeely like to get your story down... for your kids and family and friends... but you're not sure where to start because writing just doesn't come easy, here are five tips from Dan Curtis http://dancurtis.ca/:

1. Keep a date with yourself. Set aside a 30 minute block of time when you won’t be disturbed. Mark it down in your calendar. Now here’s the important part. For 30 minutes begin writing about some aspect of your life. It doesn’t matter what. Just write. Don’t stop. Don’t worry about grammar or composition - just write. At the end of 30 minutes, stop. Get up from your desk and walk away. Congratulations! You’ve started your life story and you can come back and edit what you’ve written on another day.


2. Select a topic. It helps if you can focus your attention on a particular topic that holds some interest for you. Here are a few suggestions to get you started. My idea of happiness. The individual who had the greatest influence on my life. The qualities I admire in a friend. A childhood memory.


3. Choose a favorite object. We all have some favorite object that has been a part of our lives for some time. Mine is a little Nigerian thorn carving I collected many years ago when I was a volunteer in West Africa. Select your favorite object and write a story about how it came into your possession and what it means to you.


4. Pick a photograph. Look through your photo collection until you find a picture that brings back a lot of memories. Now write about that photo. Where was it taken? Who’s in it? What was happening?


5. Talk to me! If you’re finding it hard to write out your story, just talk and record into a simple voice recorder. Start by putting down five or six questions that you’re going to ask yourself. Next, turn on the recorder and interview yourself. Later transcribe your interview and edit it.

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