The legacy question!
My father scolded me saying, “you are almost ruining my legacy. You are squandering my hard earned money. The way you are going about your business, you might end up saving nothing for your ‘future’ child’s future. You are an absolute asshole.”
I have heard these cries before, but the way my father scolded me that day sent few alarm bells into my head/psyche. I thought, “Am I seriously going for a career that has no future? Or I seriously don’t have a talent to justify that career”.
My father always says, what you are going to leave for future generations to come, will remain as your legacy & people will only remember you for that? And, he means it in money’s sense.
He says, “don’t waste money”. And, I subscribe to that theory that the more you waste the harder you have to work to earn the same amount back. But, then, we work hard at the first time to earn that money to buy luxury or to make our ends meet.
Even if I save a lot of money, is there any guarantee that my future children or grand children will remember me for this? The more I see growing up children these days, the more convinced I get, they are the most thankless creatures (no offence intended. Those of you who are thankful, I really do appreciate you.).
Also, I have a theory, If I were to die tomorrow, I am not coming back to see if my children or grand children reaping benefits of the wealth I have amassed for them. Are they adding value or growing it? Or, are they just wasting my hard earned money on marijuana, alcohol and all that crap present in this world? Or, somebody has stolen or robbed my wealth from them. You never know!
Legacy in its literal sense is- leaving behind something valuable (morally or in karmic sense (deeds)). If you seriously want your future generations to remember you, either do something so terrific that people remember you or do something so shameful that people chid you after you.
The choice is ours for the taking. The word legacy is used far too often and its core sense is hardly understood. May be my father is the same.
I am all for future generations coming and enjoying atleast the same benefits that we have if not more. But, I am, a bit confused or let’s say have a negative feeling about curbing my expenses to save for future generations. In that sense, I might end up making them a bunch of space sucking scumbags.
I have my doubts.