vikisuzan

College sophomores like me don’t have much authority to write about debt to equity swaps, the proper way to run a business or how to manage a household. But there is one area in which we have unparalleled knowledge: Being young. We hear all the time how important the “youth of tomorrow” are in our culture and this must be true when you measure how much attention is given to a person when he reaches the age of independence by the sheer number of credit-card offers he receives in the mail.

Much of the focus at InsideWork^® is on ethical and moral business, but one of the areas of exploration is the concept of legacy. Be it family inheritance or a corporate empire, the notion of leaving something worthwhile for the next generation is a widespread value among the peoples of the earth, and Christianity in particular encourages these intentions. But, in light of the recent economic crisis that struck not only my nation but the world as a whole, it seems painfully obvious that a financial legacy, while certainly nothing bad, is not the most secure of legacies to leave.

An early follower of Jesus recalls him saying:  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19, 20). I think it follows that the best legacy for a person to leave is not material, but a legacy that cannot be affected by thieves, scandals or crisis; a legacy that will help posterity through such times rather than until such times: something transcendently spiritual.

It seems there are two obstacles to leaving this type of legacy: One has to figure out how to build a spiritual legacy, and then one must have an idea what it should look like when it’s complete.

I found a clue to legacy-building in Deuteronomy 32:7:

Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.

This passage suggests that the secret to building a legacy lies in the relationship between the old and the young. The only way to build a legacy and have it last is to transmit it from person to person through a relationship, not postmortem through a last will and testament. One of the greatest pitfalls in this process is the tendency of parents  to spend all of their time with their children teaching them “survival skills” and little tricks of the trade so that when the kids grow up, life will be easier for them. Though there’s nothing wrong with teaching children (I think parents should be encouraged to teach their children more than most do), the mere passing along of information does not constitute a relationship. I imagine most people fall into this trap because they view the spiritual legacy much like the material legacy; with a certain mechanical quality, like a math equation that simply needs to be solved. True relationship comes from shared experience, not shared knowledge, and elders who spend time with the young getting to know only their intellect have forgotten that lasting relationships depend much more on spiritual and emotional bonds than academic exchanges.

In these dire times I have ceaselessly heard how important my generation is to the future of our country, and the solution of many people is teaching us as many marketable skills and tricks-of-the-trade as they can to prepare us for the future. But if you really want to give your offspring something of worth, we need more than merely a way of surviving, we need to learn how to truly live. Can you help with that? If so, I feel confident it will be by spending time with people of my generation, not more money on them.

Michael Finch is a sophomore, studying political science at Hillsdale College (where he also runs a wicked 200 meter sprint). This is Michael’s first post at InsideWork®.