Legacy

The term legacy, as defined by dictionary.com is anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor. Therefore if this definition says anything, it says that a legacy can be good or bad. Many times when we refer to a legacy we are referring to it in the sense of leaving behind something for our kids and grand kids to hold on to. I think that we can conclude here that everybody leaves a legacy. However, the total value of your legacy is not yet defined if you are still living. I think that we can also agree that there are many who are deceased whose total legacy value is not determined as of yet. For example Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States left a legacy that is still growing even though it has been 143 years since his death.
A legacy is not something that you can buy on eBay, it is a summary of your life that yields valuable tools to those left behind. In every graveyard the dash between the year of birth and the year of death on the tombstone is but a shorthand reference to a person's legacy. For some, the legacy may have formed over a 105 years and for some 105 minutes. If we could only know how many people would like to come back and relive the dash, we would be surprised at how many of them are famous people who everyone thought lived the ultimate successful life. Therefor what makes up a good legacy may not be easy to discover.
In my opinion, a good legacy will include an influence to do better and to succeed, and most of all to go to heaven. If I leave behind nothing else, I wish to leave behind an inspiration to my children to make it to heaven. Everything else is subsidiary and falls well below in rank. Sure, i want to leave behind a motivation to be a lifelong learner and to seek happy and successful relationships, but making heaven is the priority.