Long Live Your Name!

Mahatma Gandhi

Having dinner with a couple of friends two weeks ago, one of them said to me, “Hillary, this morning I was thinking how we are born into this world, work very hard to achieve so much (and) then we die.” Few days ago another friend said almost the same thing and of course it set me thinking.

Thinking to myself I thought about my mother, her struggles, how she managed to work hard in the later part of her life to accomplish the things she desired, not for herself but for her children. Leaving us with enough to help us along life’s path and for us to extend the gratitude by taking her measures beyond. I guess it is one of the purposes to life, developing ourselves and passing our teachings and our accumulated treasures onto our future generations, ‘The Circle of Life’.

But then I thought with all the achievements in my lifetime passing on my fruits from the tree of life is very good but what about my name? I can carry this one thing to my grave and fortunately (or unfortunately) it will be definitely left for my family and loved ones.  After all, it is the only thing I acquired when I was born that will stay with me throughout my life unto death and which I can definitely leave without the hassle of a will.  So isn’t it important that I should keep it in good standing? I am sure you would agree! But exactly how do I acheive this?

It was then revealed to me that one of the main ways of accomplishing this feat is by creating a life style that promotes the desire to always keep my name in good standing. Though it may be challenging sometimes it is my responsibility to leave not only a great legacy but also put status to my name as this is how I would be most remembered – Hillary Monica Sargeant!

As my dear friends inadvertently reminded me it’s so easy for us to concentrate on acheiving the material things of this world or gaining titles such as CEO, Best Dancer or even Best Friend that we often overlook one of the most important title – our NAME! This is not to say that acheiving these other goals is insignificant but we must remember that at the end of the day our tombstones won’t be written with our titles or there won’t be a space stating our bank accounts balance but for sure our names will be there. So exactly what would we like to be said about us when we are long gone but our names are still being pronounced on the lips of those we once knew?

Harriet Tubman

Here are few names I leave with you that weren’t CEOs or the wealthiest people in the world but each of them managed to leave a great legacy behind and by extension added enviable status to their names as they will always be remembered as magnaminous humanitarians in their own right – Mother Theresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Martin Luther King, and Florence Nightingale.

Hypothetically, you can live on forever by a simple thing as your NAME. So what would you like your name to stand for when it’s being said?

Long live your NAME! Blessed be your NAME.

Hillary.