A Legacy of Inspiration

Everyday inspiring people begin to create their own legacy. There legacy may not be as widely known as those who become famous, but to the people whose lives they touch it is an indelible legacy. I read a blog today about this type of legacy and was so moved by his story. He may never know the impression it made, but that is often the case with those who are unknowingly creating a positive legacy.
The man’s name is Matthew Sanford. At age 13 his family was in a horrible car accident which killed his father and sister and left him paralyzed from the chest down. He went for many years just trying to accept his disability. He finished high school and college but found himself living in a state of depression. One day all of that changed. He met Jo, a yoga instructor with no prior experience working with people with paralysis. Slowly the yoga moves were able to integrate the mind-body connection to a point that Matthew for the first time since the accident was able to get a sense that his legs were again part of his body and regain a feeling of wholeness. Today Matthew has a non-profit dedicated to helping disabled and able-bodied people alike develop their own mind-body connection through yoga. It is this type of inspiring person that increases my awareness of gratitude and is a legacy of hope.

You Are Leaving A Legacy, Is It The Legacy You Want?

Nature reminds us of its power. The Grand Canyon demonstrates how over time water can erode and shape the hard surface of the earth to create canyons. We are all like water; we have the ability over the course of our lives to leave a mark. The fact is that each of us is creating a Legacy. We interact with others and in doing so affect those we interact with. Like the water flowing through the base of the canyon is constant over time that flow has an affect on the earth’s surface.


The first step to creating a Legacy that you want is to become aware of how your actions, and non-actions affect those you interact with. If you are the person that smiles and offers a kind word, holds open the door and overall is a respectful person you are leaving a legacy. At the same regard, if you are the person that is always negative, never holds the door and just doesn’t care you are leaving a legacy.
We create a Legacy by who we are and what we do or don’t know. Armed with this knowledge, wouldn’t you rather leave a Legacy that makes a difference? Wouldn’t you rather be the person that made a difference? You have the power to leave a beautiful Legacy.

The Ups and Downs to Becoming a Legacy

If our actions are not in line with the type of legacy we want to leave, we can make the change. The legacy may ultimately be the fact that we were able to recognize our mistakes, correct them and move on. It doesn’t matter if we discover this at 14 or at 40.There are many people who altered their course in order to create the legacy we know them for today. Change is always possible.

There are countless stories of famous people who started out to follow their dream and then ended up bankrupt and needed to redefine their businesses and alter their course in order to be the person and the legacy they ultimately became. The story of Milton Hersey is one of persistence. He had no formal advanced education but studied hard as an apprentice in a candy store. His first attempts and selling chocolate failed and his company went bankrupt. He worked on an idea he had to use fresh milk to make caramel and in 1900 sold his Lancaster Carmel Company for $1 million! Walt Disney failed at his first attempt to be an advertising film maker. His company failed in 1923 but by 1928 he had reinvented his company with the creation and introduction of Mikey Mouse and the Walt Disney Company. A legacy does not earn their title by never failing, but by never giving up.

Our Life, Our Legacy - The Reverend Billy Graham

The Reverend Billy Graham said, “The legacy we leave is not just in our possessions, but in the quality of our lives.” It doesn’t matter what our religious or spiritual beliefs are, it is easy to admire the legacy that Billy Graham is creating for doing good in the world. I have always respected him as a minister of mankind, ministering to the minds and spirits of people who grow from his words, example and encouragement.

William Franklin Graham, Jr. was born in 1918 and began his ministry at a young age. He is retired now from making public sermons, but he created a legacy of being a spiritual leader for people of all different denominations and has prayed with every president from Harry S. Truman to Barak Obama. Billy Graham, known for his charisma, certainly had his critics and I think that is an important distinction to make in thinking of people and their legacy. It is not always the people that are the most widely accepted or popular who make the biggest difference; in fact it is often just the opposite. What the Reverend Graham did was take a stand on what he believed and defend it without wavering. A legacy such as the kind of legacy created by Billy Graham is often someone who makes us take notice, take a deeper look at ourselves, contemplate how we feel about matters, and even take a stand we might not have otherwise.

It Is Never Too Late To Leave A Legacy

Each year in the United State over 47,400 people are diagnosed with pancreas cancer each year. To those affected by this we are well aware of who these individuals are. However, we seldom read about them in the newspaper, hear anything on TV or get a tweet about it unless it is someone famous. This like any form of cancer is something that we all want to find a cure for.  When faced with the news that someone you love has been diagnosed the response varies. However, in September of 2007, Randy Pausch changed the way this disease was viewed and redefined how to respond when faced with this type of news.

He was a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University. One day that September he stepped in front of an audience of 400 people to deliver a last lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” With slides of his CT scans beaming out to the audience, Randy told his audience about the cancer that is devouring his pancreas and that will claim his life in a matter of months. On the stage that day, Randy was youthful, energetic, handsome, often cheerfully, darkly funny. He seemed invincible. But this was a brief moment, as he himself acknowledged.

On July 25th of 2008 he lost the battle with the disease but not before inspiring millions with his lectures and book "The Last Lecture." Faced with the news that his time here was brief he wanted to make an impact to affect those of us he was leaving behind. He is the perfect example that it is never to late to leave an amazing Legacy. His quote "We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand" demonstrates who he was.

Find inspiration in others, become who you want to be, leave a Legacy that matters.

To All The Fathers

Celebrating the Legacy of Dads

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there who are leaving a legacy. I know that all dads may not be perfect and some of us may not have the best possible relationships with our dads. That itself is a legacy of sorts. I have seen however, that even those who have not had a great example of a dad, there is a legacy and lessons we can learn. Often such people are even more dedicated to being a better parent. I am fortunate to have a great dad who is both an example and someone I respect and admire. One legacy of my father is that of being able to say just the right words. He speaks often to congregations and small groups of family and friends alike and when he is finished everyone feels better. He is often called upon to give the eulogies at the funerals of family and friends because he can recognize the value each person gives to the world and people around them. My dad gave a talk in church more than 25 years ago, that just today someone mentioned in their talk on Father’s Day. I guess that is what is called a living legacy.

From the a single dream, like a single seed the potential to what we can grow is amazing with the right conditions. ~ C.Nordyke

Its Never Too Soon To Create A Legacy

If we take our time we can find inspiration all around us.  A website http://www.idealist.com/ offers a list of organizations started by children.    Emily Douglas started an organization called Grandmas Gifts. 


Inspired by the memory of her grandmother who lived in Appalachian Ohio, 9 year-old Emily Douglas established a nonprofit organization called Grandmas Gifts. Since 1992, Emily has raised over half a million dollars worth of food, clothing, toys, books, and educational field trips for schools, children, and organizations in the area. Emily hopes that Grandma's Gifts will raise awareness of economic hardship in the Appalachian Ohio region, bridge the cultural gap between Appalachia and the rest of the United States, and show other young people how service to the community can be a fun and worthwhile endeavor.
 

This is so inspiring.  To see someone so young making a difference enables us to believe in our own potential to make a difference.  Is there something you want to do and have put it off.  Consider if a child can do it maybe you can to. 
 

Taking Flight

Between 1942 and 1945 the United States was engaged full force in WWII. There are only a handful of veterans of the war still alive and each year they are honored for the great service they gave. Finally in May 2010 the women pilots of that era were recognized by receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor, one of the highest awards given to civilians. These women flew a combined 60,000,000 miles in aircraft such as the B-17 and B-29 bombers. Still these women were considered civilians and as such received no military recognition at the time.

Jacqueline Cochran, who was the first women to fly a bomber across the Atlantic on June 17, 1941, also became part of a new flight training program for women called the Women’s Flight Training Detachment in 1942 in preparation for more women aviators to serve their country in whatever capacity needed.

In 2006, women made up 6% of all licensed pilots. It was only as recently as 1993 that women were allowed to fly in combat, even though equality measures were in place years prior to that.

No dream was out of reach for these women who only wanted to do what they loved. They proved that they were willing and able and ultimately created a legacy of service and honor.

The Legacy Of Love

The world is filled with individuals we look up to.  These can be athletes, performers, educators, actors or they can be someone we know.  For the most part we pick someone that has achieved something we dream of achieving or aspiring to be like.  However, for me the person I most looked up to was the person that raised me.  She had the heart of Mother Teresa.  She would give you her last penny if you asked her, however that wasn't her greatest gift.  Her gift that made her so amazing was her love.  No matter what happened in life or to her she always loved.  I don't think in her life she understood the meaning of hate.  Her capacity to love enabled her to forgive everything. 

When I think of who I would aspire to be like and what I would like to achieve in my life it would be her capacity to love.  To see within each person I encounter their potential to understand that with faith in an individual we can ignite their internal flame and help them find their purpose.  There aren't thousands of even hundreds of individuals that know her name.  In her lifetime she never made the cover of any magazine and was never on any Television Shows.  Regardless, to those who did know her, their lives were better from that experience.  To those who know me they know the impact she made in my life.  If I had one goal and that was the only thing I could accomplish, I would strive to know her ability to love.  She is proof that one person can impact and etch within us a piece of them that changes us and stays with us for a  lifetime.

Medical Breakthrough

I can’t imagine not having the choice between going to a male or female doctor. In a time when it was unheard of that a woman would become a doctor, Elizabeth Blackwell secretly studied medicine. She read books as part of her teaching. She and her older sisters had started a private school to support her family back in the early 1800s and after her father had died leaving them penniless. Her studies of medicine and the desire to give women who may be embarrassed to see a male doctor an option led her to apply to the country’s top medical schools. All of them rejected her application. She applied to a Geneva Medical College in Geneva, NY. The school board there put it up to the other students to decide if she should be admitted. They thought of it as some type of practical joke and signed the petition that would allow her to attend the school. Even after being admitted she was prohibited from certain classes that were deemed inappropriate for a woman to attend. However, she was able to break the stereotype that women could not become doctors when her fellow students saw her determination and ability. In 1849 Elizabeth Blackwell graduated at the top of her class. She goes on record as the first woman medical doctor in modern times.

The Legacy of A Sister Love

I doubt there is anyone that hasn't heard of the Susan G Komen Foundation.  If I say the name Nancy Brinker others of you may not know who that is.  After her 36-year-old sister died of breast cancer in 1980, Nancy Brinker founded the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in her honor. Its mission is bold: eradicate the disease by improving research, screening, education, and treatment. Since its inception in 1982, the organization has grown into a global network of volunteers who raise money and awareness through local affiliates and by sponsoring Komen Race for the Cure events. The first Race for the Cure, held in Dallas, Texas, in 1983, drew 800 participants; within 20 years, the organization was sponsoring more than 100 races annually across the globe, drawing more than one million participants. The races raise money, but also deliver a message of support to survivors.
Over the years, the organization has raised $750 million, making it one of the largest cancer charities in the world. "There is hardly an advance in the science of breast cancer over the past 20 years that hasn't been touched by a Komen grant," Brinker told BusinessWeek 's Catherine Arnst. "That's what I'm most proud of."


Nancy Brinker's love for her sister enabled her to over come the loss of her sister and start an organization today has touched so many lives.  One sister with a dream to make a difference for women everywhere has done just that. 


Within each one of us is the potential to make an impact and to make the world better.

Justice At Last

In 2003, Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to ever become a U.S. Supreme Court justice, said, “Young women today often have very little appreciation for the real battles that took place to get women where they are today in this country. I don't know how much history young women today know about those battles.” The women who were the firsts in their fields opened doors and created a legacy that the women who followed may sometimes take for granted. In 1981, President Ronal Reagan nominate Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court after she had served on the state level in Arizona and had often been the swaying vote in rulings that set precedent for future trials. I believe the world was ready for a woman’s perspective within the Supreme Court. She was voted in by the U.S. Senate 99-0. She lived, ruled and voted based on her stated belief that, “Society as a whole benefits immeasurably from a climate in which all persons, regardless of race or gender, may have the opportunity to earn respect, responsibility, advancement and remuneration based on ability.”

Laughter was her Legacy

According to IMDB - Ball tried unsuccessfully to launch her show business career, finally landing a spot as a "Ziegfeld Girl". She launched her Hollywood career as one of the "Goldwyn Girls", but she moved out from the crowd of starlets to starring roles. With "I Love Lucy" (1951), she and husband Desi Arnaz pioneered the 3-camera technique now the standard in filming TV sitcoms, and the concept of syndicating television programs. She was also the first woman to own her own film studio as the head of Desilu.

Her quote “I'd rather regret the things I've done than regret the things I haven't done” symbolizes her life. She was willing to be herself and follow her dreams. Women that have gone before us are a great examples of what we can do with our lives and the potential that we all have to live the life we imagined.

Learn for the Legacies that have gone before us. Ask “what is my dream, what do I love to do?” Then figure out what steps you need to take to make that dream a reality and take the first step. You never know what Legacy you might leave behind and the individuals you might inspire. Start with you, inspire yourself.

Stephen R. Covey said, “There are four needs in all people: to live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy.” Every action we take creates a bid of the legacy we are leaving. Back in Biblical times it was the custom of fathers to leave a written or verbal legacy for their sons who would lead their families in his stead. It would contain spiritual and ethical guidance and convey the values the father wanted to see continue. With each message we write in our journal and when we express our beliefs, hopes, and dreams to our children we are leaving a legacy in a similar way. That is why it is still as important today to leave our legacy of values to future generations.

The Most Inspirational Video Ever!!! - "Hug for the World"

Legacy of Learning

Do you have a special teacher that really made an impression on you? I have a few. I remember my 7th grade social studies teacher, Mrs. Barry, for how she made everything come alive. She would read us stories about two boys in Nazi Germany – even though some teachers thought 7th graders didn’t like to still be read to. She taught us about embargos, boycotts and trade by having us create our own countries and trade goods. She taught us about the U.S. legal system by creating a trial where we all played different roles. I got to be a lawyer because I had 100% on the legal terms quiz. It is amazing to me that I remember so much about a class and teacher I had more than 30 years ago. There were others who made an impression (Mr. Velevis was so cute with his bell bottoms and mustache!), but Mrs. Barry left a legacy. Ever since that class I have had a love for historical fiction and an understanding of so many other aspects of government and the law. There are teachers everywhere making impressions every day. Many will never know the legacy they leave.

How A Ripple Becomes A Legacy

Ripples are the affect of an object being dropped into a body of water and creating ripples.  As the ripple begins to span out, it creates additional ripples.  We have the potential as individuals to create ripples.  Our actions can have an affect on others.  I can help out a friend by giving them a ride to their job.  They can then help out someone at their job that can affect that person.  We each have the potential to affect other people.  We don't always know the affect of our ripple.  I can start a business and someone can read my story in the newspaper on online and be motivated and inspired to follow a dream of theirs.  A simple act like a compliment or a thank you can have a ripple.  We have the ability to change a bad day into a good by changing the way we look at the day itself.   

Join Our 300 Ways We Leave Our Legacy Blog Hop

We are looking for 300 ways we leave a legacy. How do you want to be remembered? What has the legacy of someone else done to inspire you? As a blogger yourself, we want to add you to our blog roll which will allow everyone to link over to your post. Write about what a legacy means to you and then add the link code found by clicking through the link at the bottom of this blog hop. Thanks for participating. We look forward to learning more about what a legacy means to you.