by David Normand

Created on: October 20, 2008   Last Updated: December 30, 2010

A Hundred Years From Now

Have you ever sat and wondered what legacy you are leaving behind? I have been doing a lot of thinking lately about my life and work. I have two beautiful children to carry on my name and character. I should not worry about that, really. I have two brothers and four sisters who all have kids and we all share a general character and values that I believe we are passing on. I hope some day my kids will fully understand the gifts I have given them.

I had dinner tonight with my parents. I sat next to my dad and he was making all sorts of wise cracks about this and that. It is plain to see where I get my sense of humor. He was really just being silly. That is what my humor is, just plain silly. But that is ok. A good laugh or even a little chuckle can lift your spirit. I think that is how I use my humor. Most often it is to pick up my spirits. There is nothing wrong with that.

I stress out about work a lot. But I was looking at our wall in the living room tonight. I looked at an old picture of my family. My brothers and sisters and I were in our late teens and early twenties when my mom realized that we were all going our separate ways. She wanted a family portrait done. Her legacy. We all got all gussied up in our Sunday best and went to a photographer for a sitting.

I know each of my brothers and sisters still have that photo. My mom has it hanging in her living room. I looked at it and thought what will happen to that picture twenty years from now when it is replaced by pictures of my grandchildren. Will it be exiled to a photo album? Tossed in a drawer or box and thrown into the garage or some closet.

Where will it be forty years from now. Will my children go through my belongings when I am dead and gone and look at it for a few minutes to reminisce about their aunts and uncles and grandparents? Will it be taken out and re-hung on a wall? No, I doubt that. The picture, the lives, the memories, shared and forgotten do not have a life beyond the realm of family. It is just a portrait of no historic value other than to the life story of my children and nieces and nephews.

A hundred years from now, it will just be a portrait of a family long forgotten. But look at the hair and the clothing styles and it will not say much more than that. Such is life. Life is transitory. Families move. People live and die. Memories fade. The true value is in the spirit. The values and character that we pass on.

I work in a field where technology is always changing. The machines we develop today are very different than the ones we developed just twenty years ago. And there has been mention that the machines we are building now will be obsolete in another twenty years. So why do we bother. Well, because we live in the here and now. We need shelter and food and our work provides that. We provide comfort and warmth and we leave values and character. That is our true gift.

Sometimes our work will yield lasting qualities and goods. I do not work in that field. I know that I work with people who create knowledge and that knowledge is used to create products or other knowledge. It is a glorious circle of intelligence. One thought begets another thought.

"I think, therefore I am". Therefore I live, and create and pass on the "goods" that I have learned.

Be good in life. Be fruitful in your thoughts, be generous in your gifts. And remember, you came into this world, cold, naked and hungry, and there are no physical commodities that you can take with you when you go. But please, take your values, take your memories, take your family, and take the knowledge and spiritual insight that you have gained.

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