I’m listening to a personal finance podcast series geared towards the retirement set. It’s about how to think about your legacy or how others will remember your brief time on this planet.
I appreciate the fact that the host emphasizes positive, non-material contributions to people and places.
But in starting to think about my potential legacy, I get stuck on this question. Isn’t any consideration of legacy the byproduct of ego? Put differently, I suspect the better we manage our ego, the less concerned we’ll be with our legacy.
Again, I turn to my sissy who occasionally reminds me, “It’s not all about you.” But what if she’s only partially right. What if NONE of it is about me?
Odds are a few people will remember me for a little while. And then I’ll be forgotten. Probably like you.
It’s at this point that Dan, Dan The Transportation Man loses it and calls me a real downer. And I tell him I prefer the term “realist”.
Deciding I don’t know or care much about my legacy, I quit the podcast series midstream.
Pressing Pause 
Where would we be without legacies? Jesus, Mother Teresa, George Washington, and on and on! Don’t think it was an ego thing for them, but they made a difference in people’s lives—that’s a legacy. Don’t be down on legacies.
Excellent examples, but there are innumerable counter examples like the Sacklers who wanted their name on every possible museum and other buildings. An obvious attempt at immortality. Surprised they haven’t built pyramids. Maybe I’m overcompensating for Sacklerism.