Check What History Would Say
About You
So what is history going to say about you? What do you feel in
your heart of hearts is going to be your epithet after you’ve
gone? And I don’t mean what is engraved on your tombstone
but written in some great cosmic record of the universe.
Personally, I don’t think I’ll even warrant a footnote. But if I
do, I would like history to record that I had a go, made an
effort, tried my best to make a difference. That I stood up for
what I believed in, stood up to get counted, and stood up for
my rights. I would like history to say, maybe, that I got up off
my backside and just stood up—it would be enough.
And you, my friend, what would you like? What do you think
history will say? What would you like history to say? Is there
a gap between these two? Can you bridge it? What do you
have to do to make that gap connect? Think about both what
it would say about you as a person and about your deeds.
We have to care, if we want to be successful, that those who
come after are going to inherit a better world than the one we
found ourselves in. You remember all those books on self-suf-
ficiency that were all the rage back in the 1970s?* Well, a key
thing they all seemed to have in common was they said if you
had land, you had to make better use of it than the person
who had it before you. You had to improve it. Same with this
world. We have to consciously make the effort to improve it
before we go. We have to take responsibility for what we’ve
been given and make a better use of it before we shuffle off
and pass it on.
*Yes, yes, I, too, was sold the dream and moved to the country to grow my
own yogurt, wear sandals, and eat lentils. It didn’t last long—not for me
anyway.