What Is A Legacy?

I have heard it time and time again: "We have to leave our mark on this earth", or " What kind of legacy are you leaving behind?"

If you want to get completely technical, here is the definition:

Main Entry: 1leg·a·cy
Pronunciation: \ˈle-gə-sē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural leg·a·cies
Etymology: Middle English legacie office of a legate, bequest, from Anglo-French or Medieval Latin; Anglo-French, office of a legate, from Medieval Latin legatia, from Latin legatus
Date: 15th century
1 : a gift by will especially of money or other personal property : bequest
2 : something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past

So according to Webster (www.merriamwebster.com), a legacy is something you leave behind after you die, for those who will follow you life on this earth. I guess we pretty much already knew all this, but I wanted to build a good foundation before I dive into what I really want to say.

As a teenager and young adult, I spent a lot of time mulling over this very question. What kind of mark will I leave behind? What will be my legacy. I am a thinker, an analytical mind, so this was a very loaded question for me. I had a feeling that I was on this earth for a very special reason. I knew I was born to do something HUGE, but what was it?

I struggled with these thoughts for years, even to the point of depression. Every time I didn't quite meet a goal, or I was set back in some seemingly huge way, I would fall apart. I thought that surely my legacy had been flushed down the toilet and I was to now start again from square one. It got so bad at one point that I began to feel stuck in a rut and I had no idea what to do with myself. Sure, breakthroughs would come, and sometimes in HUGE and amazing way, but then I would always seem to end up back where I started. That is sort of what tends to happen when you are chasing something with all your heart, only you don't really know what it is that you are chasing...

I remember the day that woke me up. It was February 5, 2005. I was in my little apartment at the Verandas (remember those days Bible School students??) and I had just woken up after sleeping in on a lazy Saturday morning. I have made plans to go shopping with my bestie that afternoon, so I jumped in the shower to get ready. Once I got out and was ready to leave, I noticed that I had missed a call on my cell. Several calls in fact. All from my bestie that I was just going out to meet up with.

Immediately I called her back. I knew it must be serious because she would never call me like that unless something has happened. It seemed like the phone rang for an eternity, but when she finally answered, all I could hear was deep sobs and then I lost the connection. My first thought was that she was in a car accident or something. My mind went crazy. Then my phone rang, and it was her calling me back. "Hello..."

That fateful conversation changed my life forever. Someone we loved and cared for deeply had passed away instantly that morning in a tragic airplane crash. A week later I found myself attending a memorial service I never once thought I would have to attend. It was a terrible loss for myself and everyone I knew.

As the days and months passed, we moved on with our lives and the pain subsided. I slowly began to remember the good things... the great things. This person had changed my life in a way that no one else could have. When I was having trouble with my Dad (LONG story) he took me out for Father's day. When I began ministering in Albania, he took me under his wing and showed me everything I know. This man made a mark on my life for the better (or best) and that will never be forgotten.

Will his name be written in history books?

Probably not.

Did he make his mark on the earth? Undoubtedly

Did he leave a legacy? Absolutely.

Sometimes I think that the most complex things in life are complex because they are simple. We, as a people, tend to make something simple into something hard, by over analyzing (I am so guilty of this) and by beating it to death with theory after theory, when in reality all we have to do is be ourselves.

What????

That's right. You want to leave a legacy? You want to change a life? Be yourself.

As children we all start out wanting the same thing: Love. The first day of Kindergarten is only intimidating because of the unknown: "Will these kids like me", "Will I make good grades?", "Will the teacher be mean?". That first day of school, all we are looking for is a little acceptance, someone to treat me as they would want to be treated. Uh oh, I think this is going somewhere now...

So, to wrap this up before it becomes a novel, how do we leave a legacy?

By loving one another. Pass that on to your friends, teachers, children and loved ones. See if things don't start to change very quickly. And you might say, "Oh, but you can't please everyone." That is absolutely true. But if you are in it to please everyone, you won't ever be a true leader anyway and therefore how could you leave a legacy that will ever stand out? Let your moral compass be your guide. Instead of worrying about what will please everyone, worry about what is right. It will NOT be easy, but you will touch lives for the better, and for every person that you set the right example for, they will touch others in the same way. If you look at it like that, we could change a generation in an instant. I would call that... a legacy.

Dukes vs Wal-Mart

Have you ever seen or heard something that made you stop what you were doing and shake your head? I have.

Before you read this blog, check out these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukes_v._Wal-Mart_Stores,_Inc.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/01/betty-dukes-walmart-greet_n_559892.html

http://arkansasnews.com/2010/05/01/federal-court-ruling-moves-wal-mart-class-action-suit-forward/

I am not the kind of Christian who thinks that you shouldn't sue someone just because its un-Christlike. I believe that we live in a country that has a court system set up for a reason, and that every person has an undeniable right to be heard. I believe that every American, and everyone in the world, has the right to stand up for themselves, and to stand up for what is right. I have read a couple pages about this lawsuit and also about the lady who first brought it to the courts, so please also know that I am no expert on the exact situation.

Now that I have stated my disclaimer, I would like to express my thoughts on this lawsuit. I have read a couple pages about this lawsuit and about the lady who first brought it to the courts, so please also know that I am no expert on the exact situation. The facts I have gathered are this: Mrs. Dukes was hired on at a SF Walmart as a cashier. She was as some point demoted to a door greeter. She felt like she was not given the chance to move up in Walmart and may have been discriminated against because she is a female.

I have never been to California, let alone have I worked for a San Francisco Wal Mart. I have, however, been employed by the company for 17 months. In my experience with the company, I have seen alot of things and from these things I have formed several opinions. Never once (in my situation) have I every even thought about whether or not the company was biased towards males or against females. As I stated before, I have only worked for the company for 17 months. That is less than two years, and in that time I have been promoted twice.

I have seen many people come into WalMart with a "gung ho" attitude, completely convinced that they would move up within the company. Some have reached their goals, but many have not. Mrs. Dukes is accusing immediate supervisors of keeping her from reaching her goals.

Now, as a person who has been a manager in a couple of different positions, and in the exact one that would have put me as Dukes immediate supervisor had she been employed in my store, let me say that there are a lot of things that play into who we promote. They are looking for people who actually work, first of all. This may seem like a "Duh!" kind of statement, but you would be amazed at the amounts of people who think they can come into a place like WalMart, walk around like they are important, ignore customers, isolate themselves from co-workers, and then look around and wonder why their managers haven't offered a promotion yet. I got promoted by working hard, solving customer issues, and keeping up great relationships with co-workers. I have put a lot into getting where I am, even though it is not that far and I still have much to accomplish. So, please, if you expect a promotion, be worth it and don't waste my time.

Secondly, in one article I read, it was stated that Dukes was reprimanded for being consistently late coming back from lunch breaks. When you work as a cashier at Wally World, it is very important to be as punctual as possible. The managers who oversee the front end have to assure that up to almost 40 people at times are getting their two 15 minute breaks and their hour lunch, all while trying to keep the lines down, as management is constantly one their case about that, and trying to make sure that someone who goes home at 5pm actually goes home on time. If one cashier is late from lunch or break, it can throw off the very very sensitive daily schedule, and things can easily begin to fall apart from there. Cashiers know this, and therefore are reprimanded when they are consistently late coming back from lunch or breaks. This is a cut and clear situation from my understanding.

As an employee, I have of course heard the "official" statement from the company. Walmart's stance is basically that the company believes this situation is more than likely an isolated incident and that it should be a personal case rather than a class action. As a recreational student of Tort Law, I can understand how there are circumstances that need to be handled publicly, when a company has knowingly done wrong to a mass scale of persons. I also understand that if this is tried as a class action, the lawyers will see a large settlement handed over to their firm, while a meager percentage will go to the people who were actually "victimized".

I agree with the company's stance on this one. There are things happening out there these days that are very wrong. Yes, women are wronged in business on a DAILY basis. Yes, as a whole, companies in the USA still pay 20-40% more to men working in the exact same positions as women. YES, this is WRONG. I am NOT against women's right to equality. I am simply saying that, as an employee of the company, I have not experienced these things at all, nor have I ever heard of a woman employee feeling this way. I work in a store that employs 500 people. A good majority of these people are female. I have never heard anything about bias in the company until this case. Therefore, it is my opinion that this may be a more isolated incident, going on within a particular store, under a particular management. It is a sad thing.

I am glad people are standing up for what is right. I just wish it was always done the right way.

How do you feel?