A legacy of moral and ethical principles is the most valuable gift or bequest possible.

Photo of Brother John P. "Jack" Riddell, 32°, by Brother Arthur W. Pierson, 32°, Pierson Photography, Falls Church, Virginia

Many of us have reached the time in our lives when we naturally begin to reflect on our own legacies-what we will leave behind when we depart from this life. A legacy, broadly defined, is something coming from an ancestor or a predecessor. The word popularly conveys a legal connotation of wills and bequests, gifts of property from an inheritance. The gifts are usually money, stocks and bonds, jewelry, and real estate. These are all consumable material things. They do not have lasting human value, and donors are usually forgotten rather quickly.

I was thinking recently about what kind of legacy I might leave for my survivors. It will probably be money, although my wife and I are now busily and happily disposing of that. My wife and I will leave our modest residence and our 1997 Toyota-definitely not an impressive legacy. Had I begun building our family's financial assets earlier, in my more productive years, my legacy could have been much more substantial. As my daughter might say, "There could have been some really 'big bucks' involved."

Wouldn't it be interesting if, after our demise, we could revisit this existence and see just how our survivors are disposing of the wealth we left to them? Unless some dramatic changes in personalities take place, I am confident that this is what I can expect. My daughter will have elected for an extended vacation at the beach to help her unwind. Son number one will have purchased some new furniture. Son number two will probably have thrown a big party, and son number three will have made a down payment on a modest estate. Of course, if my wife survives me, she will probably buy new drapes for the family room, a state-of-the-art CD player, and a long-lasting meal ticket to Yen Cheng's, her favorite Chinese restaurant.
Probably all legacies, mine included, will ultimately be converted into material things, consumables with very little enduring value. Yet legacies, like life, consist of two parts: luxuries and necessities, dispensables and indispensables. Legacies of money or material things are luxuries of life; they are dispensable and not essential for a happy, productive life. Legacies of moral principles and ideals are the true necessities, the indispensables needed for a good, fulfilling life. Though intangible, these tenets form the solid core of every lasting legacy. They are assets that cannot be consumed or converted into temporary pleasures. These indispensables are far more valuable to our survivors than material things. Beyond the inventories of money, real estate, and jewelry, there are other things of greater value, treasures which we will all surely want to pass along to our survivors. They constitute the moral and ethical legacy which is the most valuable gift and bequest we could ever offer.

At some time in our lives, most of us begin to accumulate the wealth, the luxuries, which will ultimately become the dispensable elements of our legacies. It is more essential, however, that we concern ourselves with the moral elements of our legacies. We must begin early in life, although it is never too late, to accumulate the moral assets that we wish to pass on to our survivors. We build on these assets by regularly and sincerely exemplifying the moral and ethical values, which we have inherited from our predecessors. This seems rather simplistic-just live a good life and demonstrate to others the virtues and values necessary to live a truly productive and fulfilling life. But it isn't quite that easy to conduct ourselves consistently as we would like and as we should. We all hope to live lives we can look back on with confidence knowing we have contributed to society. But, our lives, once completed, are like a finished and released movie. Retakes are not possible. We have had our moment in front of the camera, and what we did is permanently recorded. We had our one opportunity to establish the indispensable moral elements of our legacies.

The one thing I would like my children to possess after I am gone is a set of intellectual and personal principles. You cannot find your way through life without moral guidelines to point out the dangers on which a life can be so easily wrecked. I would like my children to respect commitments, to keep promises, to keep inviolate another person's life, property, or reputation, and to practice charity. I would want my children to be caring and to respond to the needs of others, when it is possible to do so. I would like them to display a proper reverence for God and to worship regularly. I would like these simple moral principles to be my bequest, the indispensable part of my legacy. They are, unlike money and material things, the richest gifts anyone can leave. They are not consumable, but have inexhaustible and infinite value. They constitute a true living legacy.