The Gifts We Leave Behind

Tim Russert died yesterday. He was 58. I won’t pretend to know much about him other than he was the host of Meet the Press, a show I don’t believe I have ever watched. But as is the case when someone of his celebrity passes on, the air waves are filled with thoughtful comments and choked back tears.

58 is young by any measure. I will venture a guess and say that he was going about his daily life, doing this and that, preparing for his next show when without any warning as to what the immediate future was about to bring, he drew his last breath leaving behind family, friends, co-workers and probably a mental ‘to do’ list which will never get done.

I don’t know when I will be living through my last day. I don’t normally worry or wonder about my own mortality. It is pointless. Life is lived by experiencing the moment to moment, not worrying about when the moments will come to the inevitable abrupt end. And abrupt it will be. There is a wonderful book by Mitch Albom called “The Five People You Meet in Heaven.” It begins with the last day in the life of the main character. Only the reader knows it’s his last day, obviously the character does not. He goes about his business and does what he has done for countless days leading up to ‘the moment’. It drives home the fact that none of us will ever know when it is our time.

In the coming days, there will be things said and repeated often about Mr. Russert. None of the comments will be about inconsequential nonsense. I’m sure his days were filled with as much annoying minutiae as ours are. The difference perhaps is in how he let it affect his life. Instead, what will be talked about is the person he was. The true legacy we leave behind is the difference if any, that we make in the lives of others. People will remember us, not necessarily by what we have achieved, rather by how we made them feel.

I wonder what legacy I will leave.

A friend recently told me that many years ago, I said something to her which was powerful and impacted her in such a way that she’s never forgotten it. When she told me what it was I could not recall any of it. It made me conscious of the fact that if I care and am passionate about what I believe in and find a way to express it to another, then perhaps the legacy I will leave behind is the gift of allowing someone to truly understand who they are.

When my time comes I will have no way to know how I affected the people in my life. The one thing I can hope for is that I leave behind fond memories which leave good feelings in their hearts and hopefully many, many smiles on their faces.