What would I say to someone who says their…
What would I say to someone who says their kids are their legacy? I would say they are 100% correct. There are rare instances where an individual is able to leave a legacy that is different than their children. At the end of the day, your children reflect what you taught them and how well you taught them to teach others. If they do that job well you have a perpetual legacy. If you do not your legacy sucks.
— from Family & Parenting (Family/Parenting) · GB writing
In the book
Because in the end, your children are your legacy. Whatever else you build, your children reflect what you taught them and how well you taught them to teach others; do that job well and you have a legacy that renews itself for generations. It is, in the end, our collective responsibility to keep the family's story and its values alive across the generations. […] Love your children out loud, protect them without smothering them, and teach them — above all — to become more fully themselves. You are my legacy. Carry it well, and teach your own children to carry it after you. — Family & Parenting (Family/Parenting)
When I was a boy my dream was to fly, and only much later did I understand that the wish to fly was really a wish to be unique, and that each of us carries a singular contribution into the world that it is our job not to let go of. If someone tells me their children are their legacy, I say they are one hundred percent correct. It is rare for a person to leave a legacy apart from their children. […] It is rare for a person to leave a legacy apart from their children. At the end of the day your children reflect what you taught them and how well you taught them to teach others — and if you do that job well, you have a perpetual legacy, one that keeps handing itself forward. That is the real inheritance: not money but a legacy of values, the value system the most enduring families work hardest to instill in the next generation. […] Be the legacy. You teach far more by how you live than by what you say; the message is the person. Raise children who teach others. Your children are your legacy, and a legacy that teaches itself forward is perpetual. Tell the family story, and tell it often. It is the glue, and it gives the young the ground to stand on. — Legacy / The Logbook (Legacy/Epilogue)