FIT@50 \ week 5

Legacy Building

Talking with a newly promoted commander I encouraged him to consider how he wanted to be remembered. “Think about building your legacy today,” I said, “not on your deathbed.”

He leapt to his feet and shared a movie scene he felt applied. Warring kings agreed to have their respective champions fight in their place. King A calls a giant, menacing soldier. King B calls a guy—who’d decided to sleep in that morning.

An apprentice was dispatched to retrieve him. The frightened boy told of King A’s mighty champion and confessed he’d be afraid to fight the giant.

King B’s warrior looked at the naïve and said, “That’s why no one will ever remember your name.”

Achilles entered the arena to slay King A’s giant. While today we associate the name with a tendon, in fact Achilles is remembered as the greatest warrior of Homer’s Iliad.

Looking at this picture from earlier in the month, I see warriors in various stages of battle. All have faced giants and insurmountable opponents regardless the years served. Each will be remembered for taking a stand on the side of human justice. And that’s an honorable legacy.

Do good,
Scott