Yesterday was my friend Jeff's 22nd birthday. Thing is, Jeff died June 7th in a climbing accident. We were close, but my friends who were closer to him than I was are still a bit lost, I cannot imagine how they feel. That loss taught me so much though. In a team development exercise I did with a group last thursday, a question came up that asked how you'd like to be remembered after you passed away. The first thing I thought of was Jeff and how, when he died, those who knew him wept not only for the loss of his life, but for those people who would never get the chance to be touched by his life and energy. Those who knew him best felt pain for those who would never get a chance to. That is a successful life; that is how I would want to be remembered--more than success, wealth, fame, or notoriety--the person who could change others' lives for the better.
I firmly believe that every person is an ambassador; they represent their families, beliefs, hometowns, schools, occupations, teams, whatever they are involved in. Have you ever met someone who went to school somewhere or was involved in something and they were a big jerk, so you would hear of that school and think, "I met someone who went there, they were a big jerk." and that is what you'd think of when you heard of that place. See, we do represent so much more than ourselves in every situation; the ability to recognize this ambassadorship and be a consistant representative to your parents, God, home and school/job is a difficult task, but not impossible. My great-grandfather used to say, "never forget who you are and where you came from."
Being remembered does not occur only at death, but in almost every interaction, be it with a new person or an old friend.
How would you like to be remembered? Who do you represent? Do you show this? If someone was to meet a member of your family or of your job/school, would they look highly on that person because of who you are? Why not?
