What Legacy Will You Leave?

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When you are thoughtful and kind, patient and aware, when you turn towards others, as

the Buddha turns towards us, even in the midst of pain, these positive qualities exist

in the universe.

So too, when you are morally outraged, aggrieved and jealous, the world contains such emotions,

which does the world need more?

What legacy are you going to leave?

But wait, you might say, I'm a drop in the ocean compared to corporations, the Murdoch

press, avaricious media companies competing for our streaming dollars?

They are a veritable tidal wave compared to one little drop of contentment.

But as we've learned from NASA, the ocean is made of individual drops and it does not

remain an ocean forever.

It too shall pass.

You can create a new wave, one drop, one breath, one ethical choice at a time.

Our actions, whether skillful or unskillful, touch lives and environments like the movement

of water in the atmosphere.

These acts ripple out and can change the world.

It may not be easily seen or occur in dramatic ways, but it does leave a trace.

And I have proof.

As an educator, I impact on the lives of others, and they impact on me.

Sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.

And you never really know, in all honesty, how you affect others, not unless they tell

you.

Now, I've actually had ex-students of mine discover me through social media or I'll

ping into them.

And they have told me exactly how I affected them.

It's very humbling, actually.

And in all cases, and I've had a few of them, it was not the powerful lessons I spent

hours preparing, but the small acts of showing interest or nudging in the right direction.

In fact, in one particular case, it was a simple act of witnessing them and showing care

that mattered the most.

Now some of these people have gone on to become actors or teachers themselves, and they

have cited my connection with them as one of the reasons for their decision.

Not the only one, but a factor, a conditioning factor, one among many, one drop in the ocean.

I don't live on in the hearts of these people, but the awareness and the possibility of

kindness that I offered them does.

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