Now that I have stretched over the hill at age 41 and approaching half a century, I find myself often thinking about the word legacy and it’s meaning to my life.
I remember reading how most people are remembered for no more than three generations. Certainly, that is true for my grandparents and after I am gone, so are the memories of my grandparents through my lineage.
And since my wife and I had our family later in life, its certainly possible that our kids will have their family after I am gone. Could I exist in two generations from now only as a name and a reference in their stories as my father was?
So I come back to Martial Arts. Many years ago I began a GIANT lineage project which was updated in recent years and a forever growing project. I traced our Martial Arts lineage back approx 6-7 generations in both Hapkido and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Here it is below and is found in larger detail at the academy:
And therein lies my legacy, or, more accurately, the memory of me. I have no doubt that were my lineage to be anchored by someone not as prominent a figure as Jigoro Kano or Choi Yong Sul, or their more famous students, that my lineage would likely be overlooked.
We are all just a point on a historical line
But it is tied to these great teachers of the past and, as a direct descendant, I am now placed in a line of people who will continue to be added.
The student of my student of my student, may one day look at his or her lineage chart and see my name embedded in it. And so I will continue to live in the practice, philosophy, and the style of the students who come after me. Legacy is merely a further exploration of that continuity and, more precisely, a way to measure our place in the tradition of our art.
So perhaps being a teacher is, in part, a vanity exercise or, at least, an attempt at being a longer-term memory but with the understanding that my martial arts lineage and my place in it may be seen and referenced 100 years from now. That is a privilege and an honor.
And a responsibility.
What does the term Legacy mean to you? Let me know in the comments below and please like and share if this has helped you.
