Today, we are going to look at a few things that happened on this day in history. You may remember that on May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard was the first American astronaut to fly in outer space, and you may know that on May 5,1925, John Scopes was arrested for teaching evolution.
Well, there are a few other important things that happened on this day in history as well — on May 5, 1988, the singer Adele was born, and on May 5, 1973, American racehorse, Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby. While those are all important landmark moments in history, there is another reason that May 5th is an important day in history.
How many of you ever used Cliff notes when you were in school? Well, the gentleman who created Cliff Notes was American publisher Clifton Keith Hillegass, and on May 5th, 2001, Clifton Hillegass passed away.
It’s pretty amazing that he created Cliff notes — something that lots of people used.
And as amazing as that creation is, that’s not why I pause to discuss Clifton today. What is really amazing about Clifton Keith Hillegass is what happened after he passed away.
This simple sentence found on his Wikipedia page is what is amazing about the creator of Cliff notes:
“Each year he donated 10 percent of the pre-tax profits to local charities and civic organizations (which, on his death, received half of his estate.)”
Half of his estate?? That is a generous man. That is a man who planned ahead. Clifton Hillegass is a man who leaves his mark on the world — the invention of Cliff Notes, and the donation of half of his estate to charities and civic organizations. Well, after I read that I started thinking about what I was leaving. I started to think about my legacy. I thought about financial legacy, but more importantly, I thought about my personal legacy. How do I want to be remembered.
So today, we are going to focus on legacy. My friends how would you like to be remembered?
Legacy can be defined as the sum total of your life experiences, beliefs, values, and traditions passed down from generation to generation. It's what future generations will remember you by.
It’s about planning for the future — maybe by making sure our children and grandchildren receive some of our money. Maybe it’s about giving a portion of our estate to a worthy or noble cause. It’s about leaving something behind, so it’s there after we’re gone.
George Orwell wrote: “Planting a tree…is a gift, and if the tree puts down roots, it will far outlive the visible effect of any of your other actions, good or evil.” — George Orwell
And Mr. Orwell is right. Several years ago I traveled back to Georgia and decided to drive by my former home, just to see the place, and to visit of few of my neighbors with whom I still have contact. It had been at least 20 years since I had been there. I almost fell over when I saw the river birch trees that I had planted in the early nineties towering at least 30 feet tall. That was a moment when I realized that the planting of a tree is like putting your name on a building. It outlives you. It stands strong after we have gone.
According to an article written by Omar Itani, “we spend too much of our daily energy exerted upon the wrong questions. When we are trying to decide which direction to take, when we are feeling lost or striving for clarity, we tend to ask ourselves several rational questions.”
“What do I want?”
“Who do I want to become?”
“What do I want my life to look like in five years?”
“How can I achieve the success I so desperately crave in my field?”
While those are great questions, they are not the questions we should begin with, according to Omar Itani. Those questions do not reflect our values. We need a different question to guide us.
Itani suggests that we need an overarching question that we can revert back to time and time again. A question that reflects our core personal values, shows us what we stand for, and guides our daily actions.
That question is: “How do I want to be remembered?”
How do we want to be remembered as a friend, a parent, a spouse, a sibling? How do we want our colleagues to remember us? The people we go to church with? How do we want to be remembered as a human being?
I would suggest that we all take some time to think about that question. Turn it into a bit of homework, if you will. When we take time to consider all of the roles we play in our lives and then actually write down how we want to be remembered through them, we are slowly surfacing what truly matters to us — we are revealing our own cards to ourselves.
If we take some time to think about this — there will be some interesting results.
We will find out what we stand for, — what our core personal values are.
We will see how we want to show up in our daily life.
And finally we remain rooted in the present.
Hmmmm, that all sounds fairly familiar. Every Sunday I say that we provide the opportunity or the Entry Point for you to explore or discover what it is you believe, so that you can live your life in accordance with your belief system. Here we have been prepping your for this topic all along.
Once we are clear about how we want to be remembered, all we have to do is to start acting that way, right now.
If we want to be remembered for being kind then we stand up for kindness and compassion. That means we need to start acting with kindness and compassion today.
If we want to be remembered for being a champion of justice and equality for all, then we start acting that way right now.
Another way to ask that question is : “How do you want to make people feel?”
We are reminded of these beautiful words by Maya Angelou:
“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.” — Maya Angelou
Asking yourself “How do I want to be remembered?” Is another way of asking, “How do I want to make people feel?”
Humans are first and foremost emotional creatures — whether we like to admit that or not. We are feeling, sensing beings. We respond to another’s actions emotionally, and our own emotions drive us to adopt certain behaviors.
When I think of legacy, I think about our founding Pastor Rev. Dr. Linda McCoy. This faith community is part of her legacy — part of her value system, her core beliefs and a very clear answer to how she wanted to be remembered. Linda’s dream was to have a church service that welcomed and accepted all people, that didn’t get really churchy, and that preached that God loves every one of us, and God will never leave us. I can tell you how Linda wanted to make people feel: she wanted them to feel loved.
Linda is no longer with us, but she lives on through the DNA of this faith community.
References to leaving a legacy are found in several passages in the Bible. Here are two relevant verses from the book of Proverbs:
“Good parents leave an inheritance to their grandchildren.” — Proverbs 13:22
“Good people will be remembered as a blessing, but the wicked will be forgotten.” — Proverbs 10:7
We all know of famous people who have famous legacies. And most of us won’t be like them. But we will be remembered by some people. Our choices and values and actions will leave permanent marks on some people.
Writer and Film director, David Lowery wrote: “We build our legacies piece by piece, and maybe the world will remember you or perhaps just a few people, but you do anything you can to make sure you’re still around after you leave.” — David Lowery
I hope a few of the children that I have worked with in theatre will remember that I was kind and that I encouraged them. I hope I made them feel like they have a right to this life. I hope a few of you will remember a few of the words that I said in an effort to encourage you and that you also feel like you have a right to this life.
That’s how I want to be remembered. How do you want to be remembered for your time on this earth? Amen.
Someone who ironically failed to identify their name, and therefore did not leave a legacy with these words, wrote:
“What you leave as a legacy is not what is etched in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.” — Anonymous
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