Noun: something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past.
My last blog post entitled “Joe Scout” mentioned his service and what he liked to do namely fishing and playing ball. I forgot to mention that he also like to do art whether painting or drawing and he was quite good at it.
What does this have to do with the word “legacy” you wonder? Well ok, here goes. What is it you are going to leave as a reminder of who or what you were?
You might think my children are my Legacy, but what if they do not turn out the way you wanted them too?
Is it going to be money or possessions? Your name is it worth the paper it is written on?
We hear a lot about sports legacy or presidential legacy. A lot of these are not worthy of copying or emulating. Presidents make a lot of speeches about what they are going to do but it is mostly hot air. Sports stars talk of the team and the all for one mentality. Professional and college sports have now become about money and lots of it.
Maybe your name on a stadium, a presidential library, or a street sign.
As Ndn’s we have a legacy of fighting for the land that tribes lived on and used for hunting and fishing. We have broken treaties and a lot of killing on both sides. Reservation life is different then what some Oklahoma tribes have but now even that is changing. The McGirt decision has put us back on the Rez! This idea of the Reservation is one I have tried so hard to stay away from.
It is a different mindset when we recognize these borders.
To go past these and forge ahead for your people or kids is a better legacy then an inheritance of money, or possessions.
After I had posted my last blog I saw where the school namely Dahlonegah had put up a sign. You think so what? Well, it had the picture of a Cherokee ndn that Joe had designed years ago. It had disappeared from the gym floor a few years back. Today it is on the activity bus, gym floor and the school sign.
It is his legacy of giving something to the school. The school honoring that and who most of the students are. No, it is not a mascot! As some will probably protest in ignorance if they found out.
As one person who saw it for the first time said “look it is Joe’s ndn.
Legacy: in Luke 12:16-21 it talks about a rich man who had so much he built more barns and was fully satisfied. He was going to live a life of leisure…but God said “fool this night your soul is required of you; then whose, will these things be?”
Great Chiefs and warriors have come and gone as well as statesman. Their legacy remains but what about yours? Again, the question of what will you pass along or give to others?
What I hope for is not a picture of wonderful me when I know I truly was not always wonderful! Nor great but just ok as a brother, uncle or even a cuzz! If, you asked me, I pray that it is a sense of family. I become richer if I enrich their lives. I pray that is my legacy.