Browsing through the web, I came across a story about a young Nigerian lady who diagnosed with an incurable disease, took time to document her last moments. Her memos detailed her battle of faith to overcome the illness.
It was a sad but interesting read. Sad as she eventually succumbed to the illness and went the way of mortal men, but interesting that she took out time to share her thoughts with the world before she left.
It was like she wanted the world to keep remembering her years after she had gone – who she was, what she stood for, the battles she fought and the principles on which she lived and died. I didn’t know her while she was alive but reading her memo gave me an insight to who she really was.
It made me ponder on legacies – what would you be remembered for?
Many people aren’t so ‘lucky’ to know when their time is almost over, so they rarely have time for ‘last words’. It doesn’t always have to be death though, it could be stepping down from a place of authority, leaving an organization or institution or relocating from a neighborhood.
In the ensuing years, are you still celebrated or forgotten? Are people giving thanks that your reign is now consigned to history and casually labelled ‘to be forgotten’? Or are you still positively affecting people even in your absence?
I remember a story I heard on one of my travels, about the founding father of the Country (not my own). A rather long story about the legacies on which the country was founded. He had established simple and sensible principles, which the country still stood on years after he was gone. The amazing thing in the story is that he was taught, mentored and guided by his mother.
So this country where women don’t exactly have a say, was ruled and governed by principles taught by a Mum to her son. I imagine she was just trying to build her son up to be the best he could be, and could scarcely have imagined the eventual extent of her influence.
Here we are years later, she has indirectly affected an entire nation, and every visitor is enthralled by the exceptional progress made by the State in turning around their fortunes within a very short time-frame.
We all may never get to influencing nations, but we can start by touching one person at a time. Who can tell how far our life-lessons can extend, simply by positively affecting each person we meet and ultimately changing our nation for the better.
Let’s just live our lives conscious of the fact that people will always remember us for something. Let us strive to be remembered for good!
