Achieving a Lasting Legacy by Muriel Richards, Great Kills LibraryAugust 12, 2015

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George IV, King of England. Image ID: 1242758

What will be your legacy? This is a ponderous question, whether one is referring to a legacy as contained in one’s last will and testament, one’s work and/or charitable contributions or the material manifestation of one’s hobbies. Some of the importance of leaving a legacy relates to the fact that one who is able to shed his/her mortal coil while bequeathing something of endurance was likely a prominent entity in this life. Others wish to strive for immortality by ensuring their respective names are shielded from erasure by the sands of time due to an eponymous invention, a song, a book or some other form of indelibly engraved reference to their respective earthly existence for eternity (or least a few decades after demise!)

Recently, I received a telephone call from my brother that I initially (and quite understandably) regarded as another example of more of his macabre humor. "I'd like you to write my obituary," my male sibling clearly stated through the phone lines. At the time I received this phone call, I was partaking in my (futile) "beauty" treatments, and the cucumber slices covering either eye popped off with an exaggerated degree of alacrity. I sat bolt upright (no easy feat for one of my advanced chronological status and more than ample girth) and placed a diplomatic inquiry into my brother's current health status. "Oh, I'm healthy as a horse," he assured me quite heartily (I refrained from adding that is congruous with his acting like the posterior of an equestrian creation the vast majority of the time). At my prompting, my brother stated he read in a magazine that when one’s relatives and close friends write an obituary for a living relation and/or bosom buddy, the writer is supposed to “get in touch” with the more positive sentiments the writer possesses concerning the subject of the obituary, and lingering negativity directed at the subject is supposedly dissipated into the ether.

“You know how at funerals, people stand around and wax eloquent concerning the better attributes of the deceased? Well, here’s your opportunity to do so while I’m still alive!” I inhaled deeply, counting to ten (I would have counted further, but I am mathematically challenged under the very best of circumstances, let alone when speaking to my nemesis since the crib) and replied, “Well, that is often because however malevolent the deceased may have been while alive, the threat is fairly well defused once the person is deceased!” My brother chortled and said, “You’re not taking the concept of this exercise seriously! I know what your dilemma is! You just can’t bear the thought of even imaging that I’m gone from the earth!” One of my cats must have inadvertently stepped on the “end” button on my telephone, because when I managed to cease convulsing from laughter and had managed to upright myself from the floor (I had slipped on the aforementioned cucumber slices during my ribald episode), the phone connection between the sibling who would have emerged victorious in a “Most Inimical Sibling” contest with Cain was severed.

Writing one’s own obituary is an exercise that may serve to assist one in assessing how well one has met one’s long-term goals, and assist one in possibly establishing new aspirations to accomplish prior to one’s final adieu. While amassing a financial fortune and bequeathing same to various related legatees, as well as possibly a portion of one's estate to some charitable institutions, donating one’s time and talent to a worthy cause, composing a magnum opus or endeavoring to rival Shakespeare in one’s writings are all worthy goals, I am also favorably inclined towards the thinking that small acts of kindness “strengthen” the positive energy in the world, and that represents a worthwhile endeavor. As Mother Teresa expressed, “Do small things with great love.” The NYPL contains many items in its Circulating Collection to inspire you to do something in order to create your own legacy.

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Dessin : pesée & jugement de l'âme au tribunal d'Osiris (rituel funéraire -- XVIIIe. dynastie). Image ID:87251

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