Legacy alters the course of a nation

There exists a welter of definitions on the word legacy. Legacy is defined as “a gift or bequest, that is handed down, gifted or transferred from one person to another;” and it is about life and living. It is about learning from the past, living in the present, and building for the future. Legacy is something that is transmitted, inherited or received from a predecessor. A lot of individuals have left a legacy behind that altered the course of their nations either by spreading prosperity or poverty. In this piece, most of those who have left a legacy cannot be discussed because of space. But we must have heard about the Swedish Chemist Alfred Bernhard Nobel, who in his lifetime was a maker and inventor of explosives.
Alfred Nobel invented dynamite in 1866 which according to some historians earned him fame, and ultimately a large chunk of his wealth. At a stage in his life, Alfred Noble was reported to “have held more than 350 patents, operated laboratories in twenty countries, and had more than ninety explosives and ammunition manufacturing factories.” Today, despite these exceptional achievements, Alfred Noble is mostly remembered as the man behind the world’s most highly regarded and respected Noble Prize awards for efforts in peace, chemistry, physics, literature, and economics.
Perhaps, Alfred Nobel wouldn’t have had the rare privilege and opportunity to reflect on what his life was all about, and how he would want to be remembered, but for an unusual incident which occurred in 1888. When Alfred Nobel’s brother Ludwig passed on while living in Cannes, France, the French media houses erroneously confused the two brothers and reported the death of the inventor of explosives. One of the newspaper’s headlines showed briskly in French: Le marchand de la mort est mort- the merchant of death is dead. Most believed this was the incident that eventually led his founding of the Nobel Prize and the resultant change in his reputation.
Peter Drucker, the renowned management guru, once said that thinking about his legacy early in life is what shaped him profoundly as an adult. Legacy can change the course of our lives and indeed that of a nation if leaders and followers ask two fundamental questions: How do I want to be remembered, and what do I want my life to have been about once it is over? Simply, what Drucker advocated was that once people, either singly or collectively begin to reflect on how they want to be remembered, it impacts their entire perspectives in life. “The headlines we write on earth, according to Jill Carattini, are printed on pages that will eventually fade and crumble.”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the longest serving President of the USA in times gone by. He served for twelve years from 1933 to 1945, to change American society and politics. His response to the Great Depression and the rise of Germany and Japan made him a defining figure in American history. Roosevelt was able to pull his country away from the fringe of economic, social and political disaster. He worked assiduously to lay a solid foundation for future stability and prosperity. In a nutshell, this is Frank Roosevelt’s legacy.
During the great depression of the 1930s, John Davidson Rockefeller, the world’s richest man at that time loaned America about half his net worth. From that same country, we now have Bill Gates who has given half of his wealth to charities across the globe. Every person will leave a legacy behind after they breathe their last breath. The question we should ask ourselves is: what type of legacy do we want to leave? Only few people leave behind a legacy that is worth discussing. Legacy isn’t only about leaving what you earned, but also the knowledge you acquired.
Nigeria is in economic recession, but not yet in depression. As efforts are being made to realign the economy, our elected and appointed leaders in the government should be concerned about the legacy they want to leave behind. The followers should equally ask themselves – what legacy do they want to leave behind that would alter the course of Nigeria for good? Nigeria with a population of about 200 million people should be able to muster many of its citizens whose stories will reflect the goals they accomplished towards making Nigeria a great nation when they live and after passing on.
It should not be government officials alone that should be thinking of leaving a legacy behind. In every home, individuals can leave a good legacy. If you are a father or mother, what is the legacy you want to bequeath to your children? What legacy do Nigerian industrialists and academics want to leave behind after retiring? Politicians will come and go, but the laws and regulations they make remains with us after they have gone. Will the executive and legislative arms of government be remembered for selling national assets only? Or will they be remembered for using national assets to generate wealth for the nation including children yet unborn? A corrupt judge that demands a bribe from his or her clients before giving judgment is leaving a bad legacy. It is a bad legacy for a lawmaker to collect money for a constituency project, and there is nothing in that area to show for the funds collected.
Legacy is not about performance and impression; it is about what individuals want their lives to be about and be remembered for. Nigerians need to start focusing on the type of people we are becoming, and how our lives will impact positively on others. Although, legacy is not leaving something for people; it’s leaving something in people, Nigerian leaders should not bequeath a legacy of corruption to citizens. There is no legacy that is so rich as honesty. And the greatest legacy one can pass to generations yet unborn is that of positive character and faith. Thank you.

MA Johnson