Legacy

How much time and effort do you put into building your legacy, whether large or small? Setting aside money for your children’s future? Preparing them for life after your death? Working long hours to ensure your business remains long after you cease to?

How rewarding is it for Thomas Edison that on this day in 1879, he demonstrated the first electric lamp, which has changed our lives dramatically since? It’s not.

He’s dead.

He has no idea, and neither will you. Instead, how rewarding is it to call your neighbor for coffee or meet with friends for dinner? How rewarding would it be to take the afternoon off to help clean up the Parks and Rec center, make sure your neighbors have a ride to the polls on election day, or organize a family dinner with no cell phones, tablets, or tv? It’s rewarding right now, in the present. And really, the present is all there is.

Memento mori. You could leave this life right now.