The Legacy of Character – Sunday, August 02, 1981
Most of us have either participated in or viewed in the movies the reading of a last will and testament—where anxious relatives and friends await the distribution of money, properties, and other material acquisitions gathered during someone’s lifetime.
Then, according to the dictates of the will, each heir receives his or her portion of the accumulated estate. Thus, by legal means the wealth which death has made worthless, at least to him who gathered it, is given value once again.
There is another more subtle last will and testament which needs no legal forms or probate courts, but which each and every person makes, regardless of wealth or position in life. It is a spiritual and eternal inheritance by which each person bequeaths part of his or her character to children and other life-long associates. Here the wealth of character we develop through a lifetime of training and experience is handed down by association to our children. Intentional or not, our aptitudes, aspirations, and maturities are transmitted to our offspring. It is a double-edged legacy; transmitting both virtue and vice.
From his mother, Abraham Lincoln inherited the patience and human understanding required to guide America through one of her most difficult times. Mozart’s father bequeathed to his son the germ of musical genius. And Jesus received a rich legacy of compassion from His earthly mother and divine Father, a legacy which brought Him to the agony of Calvary to make us all heirs to eternal life. And there have been other notable character inheritances. The notorious AI Capone received an inheritance of hate and cynicism from his familial surroundings. Hitler, too, bequeathed to the world his own birthright to racial hate and bigotry.
Thus, each of us acquires and inherits some of the character traits which form the inheritance we will bequeath to our children. And what we give to them, will in part become the inheritance they pass on to their offspring. It becomes a cycle, for virtue or for vice.
There is no greater reward for a life well spent than the knowledge that our heirs are well provided for; that they have inherited from us the skills and temperament to compete successfully in this life, that because of our bequest they will find both temporal and eternal happiness.
Without doubt, the inheritance we leave to others will consist of more than mere tokens of material wealth and property. For good or ill, whether we wish to leave it or not, our children will inherit much of what we ourselves become. May virtue and wisdom be their legacy.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
August 02, 1981
Broadcast Number 2,711