Here is what I am struggling with? Today is the funeral of John Lewis. He is an iconic civil rights activist. Like all people he is clearly a man that is a mixture of grand impulses towards the creation of a better world and other times succumbed to the exigencies of the times. But without a doubt he was a man whose overall legacy is one of struggle (non-violent). Always seeking the greater good and guided by a vision that is deeply rooted in a love ethic. On this day Herman Cain a former presidential candidate passed away. The interesting thing about his passing away was that he died from Covid-19. He was an outspoken critic of those who would wear a mask. He parroted the anti-science rhetoric of the right wing in the United States. It is believed he contracted the disease while attending a Trump rally. Because of his ignorance, and stupidity AND the power of his platform. He may have also helped caused the lives of many, many people. Not to mention that, as mentioned above he possibly contracted this disease while attending a rally for a man that has deep affinity with explicitly anti-black, white supremacist perspective. But somehow I have a feeling that both these African-American men will be remembered in a similar fashion. Why?
Of what value is it to live your life by one set of values if in the end every person that ever lived is remembered in basically the same manner? I recently read a biography of Henry Kissinger by Greg Grandin. In it he speaks in great detail about the United States carpet bombing of Cambodia (along with other countries in which the United States practiced its imperialist agenda). He also speaks of how Kissinger spoke openly of contempt for certain communities.
I want to be clear, here I am speaking about your Legacy. I am not talking about an ‘off handed’ comment said in a casual setting, or even an opinion or perspective once held which the person later explicitly condemned or refuted. We are all allowed the possibility of change (not always for the better?). I am speaking about what is sometimes referred to in Catholic ethics as fundamental orientation. It is important to me as I live my life to know that my life has some coherence. That I will be remembered in a certain way. That all the quotidian content of my existence will ultimately lead to me being remembered in a way that accurately reflects how my articulated values were ultimately lived out, albeit, always in an imperfect manner. Ones legacy should ultimately reflect the very ‘shape’ of our heart. For as Scripture says “Where your Treasure is, there your heart will be also” I think it is profoundly dangerous to have everyone who dies ‘appear’ to have the same ‘shaped’ heart. It as though all people when they were alive ‘valued’ the same things? Had the same Treasures? We know this is not the truth. Our social reality is precisely defined by the collision of various values, and Treasures. In fact some of life’s conflicts can be understood as what constitutes Treasure. The question of Legacy is not merely what did we treasure in the time we spent here on earth but also, and maybe more importantly what ‘Treasure’ did we leave those that come after us?
Prophetic Ruminations 