I have had a couple of eye opening weeks. It has made me take a step back and look at really who I am and who I want to be. Who I am and who I want to be are two different people, sadly enough. There are few people in this world that I would go anywhere with or do anything for, and one of those individuals’ (we’ll call him ‘Jim’) father passed a few weeks back. I went to the funeral out of pure respect for ‘Jim’, only meeting his father a few times. I met ‘Jim’ when I was 18, and he never once stopped displaying qualities of leadership, compassion, humility, and respect. ‘Jim’ was the guy that everyone wanted to know about, be around, and emulate. For me, he is someone who I am honored to know. As I was driving to ‘Jim’s’ fathers’ funeral, I wondered how ‘Jim’ became the man he was, and I thought it had to be because of his father. There is a special bond between father and sons, and I really would have like to known ‘Jim’s’ upbringing.
‘Jim’ has an older brother ‘Paul’. ‘Paul’ spoke first at the funeral, and spoke very well. ‘Paul’ is obviously the older more established son. He is a lawyer, wife and kids, and I think is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame. Those things are all to be proud of as a father. ‘Paul’ spoke at his fathers funeral and did not seem to drop a tear or go through any sort of emotional moments with the exception of when he spoke of his younger brother ‘Jim’. The common theme throughout the funeral was ‘selflessness’. Apparently, and too my thoughts, ‘Jim’ was exactly like his father. Paul talked of his younger brother ‘Jim’ as he was dad. He said that ‘Jim’ was their families’ legacy, and not himself. For a man to tear up and label his younger brother as the legacy of the family has to take a lot of pride swallowing. ‘Paul’ did it, and it put the question in front of my face…what would be said of me? More importantly what IS said about me?
‘Jim’ now coaches high school football, and his entire team showed up to his father’s funeral. Never meeting ‘Jim’s’ father, yet taking time out of their high school summer to come to a funeral to man whom they’ve never met. That takes a special person, a very special person. So I sat to myself and asked again, what am I really doing? Have I ever changed a life? For the better? I don’t know if I could answer that, and it made me think of my friend Brian, who in a week, will be his date of passing back in 2005. These men effected people in ways I do not know if I ever could, and that makes me think. What am I doing? What are you doing?
What is your legacy? What is it? Are we creating it for the good or the...?
