Legacy

Last weekend was the 8th Annual Ben Kopp Memorial Ride. It takes place in my home state of Minnesota and is an event I anticipate with excitement every year. On Friday night there is a dinner and silent auction and on Saturday there is a 100 mile motorcycle ride. The BKMR is hosted by the MN chapter of HOOAH, which stands for Helping Out Our American Heroes and raises funds to support our veterans. As I addressed the crowd on Friday night, it dawned on me that I was looking into the faces of many people who didn’t know Ben when he was alive, yet have supported the event over the last nine years. I asked the question. “How many of you knew Ben when he was alive?” In a crowd of nearly 200 people, only ten hands were raised, half of them were my family. I didn’t expect to see anything different, but witnessing so few hands left an impression.

If you know me well, you know that I cling tight to Steve Jobs notion of trusting that the dots of our lives are going to connect to our future. In his 2005 commencement speech to Stanford University, he speaks of this being the thing that mattered most in his life. If you haven’t read this speech, I would encourage you to do so, it’s worthwhile. Anyway, in noting the small number of people present who knew Ben when he was alive, I thought, “Wow! This is his living legacy standing right here in this room:” A room full of people there to not only honor Ben, but to support our veterans and all those who have served and sacrificed. Ben would be proud.

Where did this legacy come from? How is it that Ben’s 21 years still have such an effect on the masses nine years after he died? Webster defines “legacy” as something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past. It is synonymous with inheritance, effect and consequence. The first person that comes to mind when I think of why Ben became who/what he did is my grandfather, his great grandfather. Inheritance. He inherited a great deal from this man whom he admired deeply; his conviction, his compassion and an innate desire to serve his country, among other things. They both earned Bronze Star Medals (Bens with Valor) while serving in the Infantry the United States Army, my grandfather in WWII, Ben some sixty years later in the Global War on Terror. Their service to country helped define each of their characters - what they were willing to do to in pursuit of upholding their commitment to the greater good of humanity. However, the way they lived their lives and treated others is their true character definition, their legacy.

There is a Greek proverb that says, “Society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” There is a similar Native American lore that speaks of planting trees not for the shade they will provide today, but for seven generations ahead. Furthermore, the Constitution of the Iroquois Nation explains the “seventh generation” philosophy. Here is an excerpt:

Your heart shall be filled with peace and good will and your mind filled with a yearning for the welfare of the people of the Confederacy. With endless patience you shall carry out your duty and your firmness shall be tempered with tenderness for your people. Neither anger nor fury shall find lodgement in your mind and all your words and actions shall be marked with calm deliberation. In all of your deliberations in the Confederate Council, in your efforts at law making, in all your official acts, self interest shall be cast into oblivion. Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground -- the unborn of the future Nation.

I don’t know that my grandfather wasn’t thinking about his children, grandchildren or great grandchildren when he was fighting from the foxholes in North Africa. From powers greater than me, I believe there was something ingrained, meant to be. The consequence of his character would further come three generations later while he was teaching young Ben how to catch and clean fish, operate the lawn mower, play cribbage, laugh at himself, find the simple joys of life and to always look out for the underdog. Proverbs 27:17 states, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” My grandfather and Ben are the epitome of what this means.

Because Ben lived and what he stood for in life, there is an annual event whose objective is to help our veterans, which in turn helps their families, their children and their future generations. Ben endeavored to make the world a better place by being kind, resolving to be true to his purpose and leading the way for others to do the same. When I recall what I was doing nine years ago, I can’t be certain I was thinking about today. Today is different. I am thinking about the future. What I do and say WILL affect the future and WILL impact the legacy I am creating this very moment, whether my time on earth ends tomorrow or 50 years from now.

Not one person in that room who only came to know Ben after he died, came away unaffected.
They walked away seeing the impact of one life, one legacy. I believe there is a misconception that our legacy is revealed after we die. The truth is that we are creating it while we live. I ask myself who I am to the people around me? Who am I to the world? Am I satisfied/comfortable with what I project and how I would be remembered if I get called Home today?

The people behind HOOAH are veterans and their families wanting to give back. This is done to honor them and because it’s the right thing to do. Their hearts lead them to continue to be of service and will lead future hearts to follow in their footsteps. All of this will contribute to the shade of trees they may never see, but they are no less committed to making sure it happens.

“As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart.” Proverbs 27:19.