Mr S Rajaratnam was a founding father of Singapore, patriot, politician and the former foreign minister. He died at the age of 90 years in Sep 2006. In 1988, soon after he stepped down from the Singapore cabinet, Mr Rajaratnam was asked what he would do during his retirement from politics. He replied: “You know in Alice in Wonderland, there is the Cheshire cat who goes away but leaves his smile behind? I hope I will go that way too.”
A local newspaper, the Straits Times, commented, “The answer was quintessential Raja, unexpected, yet unexpectedly apt, leaving a smile on his listener’s face.” I agree. Many people wish to be remembered as the ones who have made a difference. They want their lives to matter. Like Raja, I prefer a less assertive influence, just a smile.
This same sentiment was expressed when I retired as Executive Vice Dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Singapore's third and newest medical school on the 31 Mar 2019. I had the unique opportunity of starting the School from scratch in 2011 in partnership with the Imperial College London. On retirement, I told colleagues that I think the only lasting legacies are the memories of friendships made. I went on to sing "The Way We Were", a song chosen to celebrate all the friendships made at LKCMedicine and the memories of moments spent with one another.
The desire to leave lasting legacies found expression in ancient history in the Tower of Babel. The tower of Babel was probably the first mega-building project in history. A building that was to be so gigantic it would be an architectural marvel and would have brought fame and posterity to the people who built it. What were the motives of the builders? What vision did they have in their sight? Gen 11: 4 recorded:
"Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
The tower was to be a centre for their identity, their security, an expression of their community. It was to be something of lasting value and significance to pass on to the world. However, they were attempting to do the whole project without a single reference to God. In the end, the Bible recorded that God destroyed the tower and they became separated from each other in confusion and misunderstanding. Now tragic: Lofty Aims - Great Downfalls.
Most of us do not live special lives. We are seldom called to make great contributions or to perform heroic deeds. If we are feeling too ordinary, St Francis of Assisi gave all of us a chance to build a simple but lasting legacy. This chance is found in his famous prayer:-
Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen
The key word to this prayer is the word, instrument. If we are willing to be instruments, God’s instruments then we have the chance to leave behind something more lasting than bricks and mortars. The builders of the tower of Babel had got it all wrong while St Francis of Assisi got it all right.
May our aspirations instead be "Make Me A Channel Of Your Peace"
Lionel
During lit studies at school, I came across this poem by Shelley about a king who commissioned an enormous statue of himself ("My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"). The poet described how the statue eventually was lost under the sands of the desert - as was the memory of that king.
ReplyDeleteI think that nobody really leaves a lasting legacy. Not in objectsm, not even in works or deeds.
Even those like Akbar, Shi Huang Di, Abraham Lincoln, William Wallace, Malcolm X - what of their work currently affects the present generation of people? We may think of them as great characters of history as seen through the rose-coloured lenses of retrospection, but how much of that is true to what they wanted to achieve or had achieved during their lifetime? How much of their work has made any difference to the way people are today?
Living in order to leave a legacy behind is a terrible thing. It's distracting and myopic - how can one live and grow whilst continually looking over one's shoulder to see what's been left behind? We should be living for the here and now, because that's all we really have.
Somebody once prayed this prayer with me "Lord, may your Holy Love flow through us and became an inheritance for our children and children's children."
In a sense, God has already given us a legacy, His own legacy, to pass on to the people around us. And there isn't much greater than that.
I was told that an ancient pyramid builder built one for a king. He sculptured the Pharoah's name and mighty deeds on one of the faces of the structure. Many people for many generations were able to read of the Pharoah's mighty exploits. Over time however the wind and the sands began to erode away what was engraved. Underneath, chiselled in bold was the name of the architect
ReplyDeleteKnowing what are the meaningful things we can leave behind, as well as the things that will erode away, can really help to guide us when we are young, so that we don't waste time building what doesn't last! Hope to hear more from you about this.
ReplyDeleteKenneth You are right indeed. There is a quotation, 'Only one life, t'is soon be short, only what's done for Jesus shall last'. An Amish proverbs says, 'We grow oldt too soon and too late smardt'.
ReplyDelete