What It Means to Leave a Legacy

The world is developing at a rapid pace and to leave your legacy, you need to be prepared. Find out how the first step should start with making sure that whatever it is you do or buy, preserve their cultural value.

Leaving a legacy is one of the most important things you can do for your family. It means that they will have something to remember you by after your gone, and it also leaves some kind of mark on the world. Read more in detail here: leaving a legacy quotes.

The previous piece in this series began with a startling statistic: just approximately 33% of our forebears were male. We’ll start the same manner as before:

When the Titanic sank, the affluent, first-class males had a lower survival percentage (34 percent) than the impoverished, third-class ladies (46 percent ).

Most people are aware that the Titanic had fewer lifeboats than were required for the amount of passengers, and that the wealthiest passengers were given priority seating. Nonetheless, the figures tell a fascinating story. What went wrong? Many of the wealthier men chose to go down with the ship rather to allow the ladies, regardless of status, get on the lifeboats first.

First and foremost, women and children. You’ve probably heard this term so many times in your life that you’ve never stopped to consider why it’s said… Why have women’s lives traditionally been valued higher than men’s lives?

The Men’s Expendability

The solution may be traced back to the biological distinctions between men and women, as we addressed last time in the Switch of Challenge. A woman can only have one child (at a time), but one male can have several children. A group of five men and one woman will not be able to have the same number of children as a group of five women and one guy. This is why a woman’s eggs and womb have traditionally been valued more than a man’s sperm. And why have males traditionally been assigned to society’s dirtiest and most hazardous tasks, owing to our superior physical strength and proclivity for risk? Hunting and warfare are two examples. This is true from the dawn of time to the current day. If societies were to survive and grow, they needed to safeguard their women.

There were 9.7 million military fatalities in World War I, virtually all of whom were men. The figure is mind-boggling: ten million men went to battle and never returned. It is very awful, but we accept it on some level; it is unimaginable to fathom 10 million women being slaughtered instead.

The Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts have claimed the lives of 6,026 American soldiers. Women made up just 2% of the victims.

Last year, men accounted for 93% of the 6,000 workplace fatalities.

When we hear tales of men laying down their lives for women, we are inspired and moved. For example, one man covered his wife’s body with his to rescue her from the Joplin tornado and lost his life in the process. It would be much more unexpected to hear a narrative in which the woman made the ultimate sacrifice in order to rescue her husband.

It’s still customary for newscasters and journalists to report on a tragedy or accident by mentioning that the dead toll includes women and children. Even. Because the killing of men is one thing, but the death of women makes the tragedy feel much worse.

So we know what the practical consequence of men’s higher expendability is: males have traditionally been relied upon to do society’s most dangerous occupations, and they have often lost their lives in the process. But have you ever considered the psychological impact of this system on men?

The Possibility of Eternity

When Kate and I first discussed having children, she inquired as to why I want children. “I really enjoy the concept of having a part of me continue exist in the world after I’m gone,” I added.

She gave me a blank stare.

“What?” I inquired. “Have you given it any thought?”

She hadn’t done so. She want children as a sign of our love and as something to adore, as well as other things circling around love.

The concept of legacy has long piqued the imagination of men. Who can blame us, after all? We know we’re disposable in the back of our minds; we know that if duty calls, we may have to give our lives, most likely while still in our prime, to preserve the tribe and those we love. Our primordial minds, on the other hand, warn us that we may never have the opportunity to be a father. As a result, there is no assurance of a biological legacy.

As a result, we shift our attention to the creation of non-living entities that will provide value to the planet. We only have so much time, and we want to leave our mark and leave a piece of ourselves behind. We all want for a sliver of immortality, and the act of creation, in which a man creates something new from nothing, is the most godlike thing a man can accomplish. We may pass through the world fast, but we hope that something, however minor, will be altered because of our presence.

Produce More and Consume Less

Even if you don’t agree with my own, more philosophical hypothesis for the origins of a man’s desire for legacy, there are still extremely practical reasons for its evolution.

Tribes were likely fairly egalitarian in the days before established agriculture. Men hunted large wildlife, while women collected nuts and seeds. According to anthropologists, their contributions to the group were about equal.

Women, on the other hand, made an additional contribution: children! So, what were the guys intending to do with their additional cash? Men needed to step up and generate something extra in the productive arena if women were managing the reproductive chores.

This relates to what we discussed last time, in that femininity has always been a status that was given to her naturally, while masculinity had to be earned through time. When a woman has a child, she is usually forced to mature. However, a man need an external push to accelerate him towards adulthood and prevent him from reverting to infantile reliance. And this is why, according to sociologist Steven L. Nock, the test of a man’s masculinity is whether he produces more than he consumes… Did he contribute to society’s worth, power, and wealth? Will he leave the tribe in a better state than he found it when he entered it? Or was he just a slacker? This was agreed upon by ancient cultures all around the world: the latter was not a man.

The Modern Challenges of Creating a Legacy

These days, you don’t hear much about “legacy.” There are many explanations for this.

To begin with, we live in a culture that is very focused on the now. There is a lack of historical awareness and knowledge of what has gone before. Our civilization gives the impression of being the only one that has ever been and that counts. We lack a wide, broader understanding of history and time. We don’t perceive the importance in leaving a legacy because we don’t recognize the heritage we’ve inherited.

We also want to think that we can live indefinitely. We revere youth culture, attempting to maintain a youthful appearance for as long as possible, burying our elderly relatives, and shielding our eyes from death. We feel less driven to strive toward leaving a legacy the more we ignore death’s inevitability and actuality. After all, why needs to leave anything behind if they’ve persuaded themselves that they’ll always be there?

Third, we live in a culture where everything is disposable. Everything is made to be used a few times before being discarded. And every improvement is quickly followed by an even greater one. As a result, we lose trust in the concept that anything can stay forever. We believe that–why bother?–anything I can possibly contribute to the world will be outdated in no time.

Fourth, we live in a culture that is very impatient. We expect things to happen right away. We want to punch someone while waiting for our computer to load up. Building a legacy, on the other hand, is a gradual process, and the fruits of our labor may take a long time to appear…or may not even appear until after we have passed away. What a buzz-killer for fast pleasure.

Turning the Legacy Switch in Your Life

“Yet man does not perish while the planet, his mother and monument, endures. His name has been forgotten, but the breath he inhaled still stirs the pine-tops on the mountains, and the sound of the words he spoke still echoes through space; the thoughts his brain gave birth to we have inherited today; his passions are our cause of life; the joys and sorrows he knew are our familiar friends—the end from which he fled aghast will inevitably overtake us as well!

“Truly, the cosmos is filled with ghosts, not sheeted graveyard spectres, but the inexhaustible parts of individual existence, which, having once been, can never die, even though they mix and change, and change again for eternity.” King Solomon’s Mines, H. Rider Haggard

What does it mean to be remembered? My concept is based on what I learnt as a Boy Scout: leave your campsite in better condition than when you arrived. It’s the same with life. To leave a legacy, you must leave the locations you visit and the people you meet in a better state than when you arrived.

Many fathers will tell you that their children are their most important legacy. And that’s wonderful. However, as previously said, I think males have a natural urge to leave a legacy that extends beyond themselves.

In fact, the analogy between children and adding value to the world is a good one. They both have something to do with a man’s sperm. Thousands of sperm compete for a place in a man’s reproductive seed, but only one will find acceptance. Thousands of efforts to produce value in the world may end up on barren soil with the latter, a man’s fruitful seed, but a handful will strike the target and grow new life.

As a result, every man should be a type of Johnny Appleseed, distributing their seeds of invention everywhere they go, satisfied in the knowledge that the seeds may not produce fruit for a long time after they’ve gone on. It takes patience and a certain amount of trust, confidence in the thought that our lives have not been in vain and that the world is a bit different because we are here.

Last week’s Manvotional, Facing the Mistakes of Life, astonished me with its popularity; it was shared over 1,000 times on Facebook. The text was taken from a book authored by William George Jordan in 1909. Jordan’s writings may have been famous during his lifetime, which is a wonderful reward, but how incredible is it that 100 years later, thousands of people would read them on a medium of technology he could never have imagined? Can you envision people a century from now finding inspiration in your work as you sit at your desk on a wet day typing words into the computer? That is the legacy.

And it is not just the production of physical and literary artifacts that leaves a legacy. An idea, a company, a custom, or a concept may all leave a legacy. Anything that affects a person or the world in a little way and is handed on, anything that endures.

There are several little ways to leave a lasting impression. A man never knows when an encouraging remark said to another can change the path of that person’s life, altering history and adding value to the world. Here are a few ways to leave your mark on the world every day:

Keep a diary.
At your college or high school, form a manliness group.
At your fraternity, start a new custom.
Take the necessary procedures to create your own company.
Create a blog.
Be a mentor–be a Big Brother, coach Little League, take someone new under your wing at work, and so on.
In a Master Mind Group, you may share your thoughts.
At church, start a Bible study or a small group.
At work, come up with new and better methods of doing things.
Make a piece of furniture or anything else that you can pass down to your children and their children.
Create a new community program, such as a rec league or a recycling program.
Play around with an idea

What are some more ways a guy might leave a lasting impression? What are you doing to leave your mark on the world?

The Cure for Modern Male Malaise: The Switches of Manliness Series Physicality is the first switch. Challenge is the second switch. Legacy is the third switch. Switch #4: Make available Nature is the fifth switch.

Watch This Video-

Leaving a legacy is something that people often think about when they are nearing the end of their life. There are many different ways to leave a legacy and some examples include: an inheritance, a family name, and leaving behind a physical item. Reference: leaving a legacy examples.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you leave a legacy?

A: A legacy is a collection of memories and achievements, in which you leave your mark. Whether it be in the way someone treats you or simply in their life after death.

Does leaving a legacy really matter?

Why is leaving a legacy important?

A: Leaving a legacy is important because it makes sure that your children and grandchildren can live in a world with the things you have created for them, such as knowledge or ideas.