B.A. Social Studies
Legacy: “Something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past” (Merriam-Webster) My grandfather--Papa as he’s known within our family and even to our family friends--passed away recently and I’ve been looking for a way to process my feelings. I know that this post will not be the most “educational,” but I promise that it will tie in at the end… I also know that we have all been through this same scenario in our lives--I’m not expecting and don’t want sympathy, instead I want to celebrate. I want to focus on the word LEGACY, probably the number one thing that my wife and I have discussed and thought about over the past three years as Papa battled ALS (Lou Gehrig’s). I want to celebrate his legacy.
I have spent a lot of time the last couple of months thinking about all of the great times and memories that we had with Papa and as a family: watching (and usually complaining about) the Broncos with passion, playing cards (and catching him cheating), constantly rhyming about nonsense that somehow made sense, heckling Grandma on a regular basis, telling jokes (both good and bad), letting me mow the pasture into a ball field for my cousin and I to have home run derbies (then realizing it looked terrible, and letting me mow the rest of it--then paying me), and showing me how to take care of an ant problem. Then there’s camping and fishing, which we did as an extended family on a regular basis--there are so many memories of those days sitting around the campfire, being kids, and being together as a family.
Papa left his mark on so many lives… As my Grandma said the night after he passed when I got to talk to her, “he was a good man,” and “he was so proud of all of you (his grandchildren),” I think that explains it all. “He was a good man,” and that is his legacy--that is the legacy that still lives after his passing and will continue be passed down to all of those that were impacted by him. His values and what he thought were always evident. He worked hard and was always willing to give a hand in any way that he could. Along the way, he always left a mark, always improving anything that he could put his hands on--both material and immaterial. Those values were passed down to my Dad, Mom, aunt and uncles, and then to me, my brother, and my cousins, and now, his great grandchildren. He instilled the value of family. He was the leader of his family. He lived for and valued his family. He was proud of his family. That is his legacy. All of this has made me think about the mark that I’m leaving and I hope that this post leads you to think about the same. What will your legacy be? I hope that mine follows the same lines as what Papa left to me, his family, and his friends. I hope that when I get to look back at my life and my legacy, that I will be able to celebrate the fact that I held the same values in high accord that he did: hard work, service, consistent improvement, family. I am in a unique situation to have a drastic impact. As an educator I am allowed to model and teach these values. I get to be a mentor to students and teach them through my actions how to work hard, serve, value others and their contributions, and to better themselves and those around them. My philosophy on education, as discussed in previous posts, encompasses all of these values and is passed on to the group of individuals getting ready to jump into the “real world” within the next couple of years. I hope that when they look back on their years in school, that they will think back to their time in my classroom and the values that they learned there. It’s easy to get sidetracked with content and curriculum and the daily grind, but it’s important to understand the impact that we have on a daily basis in regard to developing our students as people in the long-term. In the grand scheme, our jobs are not about curriculum goals, but about passing on the values that will allow them to be successful (whatever the individual definition of success is) in the end. As educators, our career choice is unique from many others in the fact that we have the opportunity to leave our legacy not only on our family members and co-workers, but on the hundreds of students that will pass through our classrooms, then to their thousands of family members and co-workers. The breadth of our legacy is something to keep in mind when we struggle through a day. The impact that we can have as educators provides us with the means to influence thousands. So, I will leave you with this to consider: What will your legacy be? |
AuthorBrian Anton currently serves the Purdy R-II (Missouri) School District as the 7-12 Principal after working in the PK-12 Assistant Principal and Athletic Director roles for two years. In the 12 years prior to moving into administration, he served as an award-winning high school social studies teacher. Archives
September 2018
Categories
All
|