Just before the 2000 Sydney Olympics, I met a heart surgeon at a charity lunch who specialised in transplants.
By sheer coincidence, a week earlier, I had watched a documentary about the late Dr. Victor Chang who performed Australia’s first heart transplant.
It turns out this fellow was mentored by Dr. Chang.
Anyway, after I peppered him with questions, I told him how much I admired his work and what a legacy he would leave.
And without blinking an eye he shot back and said, “You realise you could leave a similar legacy as well?”
After I reminded him I wasn’t a surgeon, (not even close!) he shared a story about one of the most inspiring pieces of work he had ever been involved in.
About two years earlier he sent a lunch invitation to all the people who had been recipients of heart donations. About twenty-five recipients plus their families accepted the offer.
He then invited the families of each donor who had donated their heart upon their death.
The lunch was hosted at a park adjacent to the hospital where the transplants took place, and in the weeks leading up to the lunch, both groups were sent name tags with a set of instructions.
Specifically, each name tag didn’t have their own name on it, instead it had the name of their donor or recipient.
As requested, everyone assembled at the park for lunch. The doctor gave a short speech to welcome the nervous crowd and then asked everyone to put on their name tags.
And with his instruction, he then asked everybody to slowly mingle and find their match while he stood back and watched.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the crowd.
Donor families spoke about the closure it brought them upon the loss of a family member plus the sense of life it also gave them, while some recipients were speechless in trying to articulate the gratitude they felt.
A legacy doesn’t have to be about a monument or how much you leave your children, although it can be.
Yet, so often, I speak to parents who feel like failures because they don’t have more to give their children.
What if the legacy you left them was invisible and cost nothing? Like a big heart.
There’s an old saying. It’s not what you leave your children, it’s what you leave in them.
What if that was all they needed?
Have a great weekend!
Adam
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