My legacy is happening now.

I was recently introduced to the idea that I am living in a ‘200 year present’: the idea that I could physically reach back and touch 1929 through the hands of my eldest grandfather and will be able to (hopefully) reach forward and touch 2129 through the life of my youngest grandchild.  What connects 1929 & 2129?  Me.  What’s the trajectory between 1929 and 2129?  Upward? Sharply down?  What roots will I deepen for my legacy during this time?

With this kind of view on the ‘present’, this six month season of challenge gains some perspective.  Suddenly, the daily grind of decisions don’t have the same impact.  By contrast, knowing that this season could be a trajectory-changing pivot point for decades is humbling.  I can choose.  I can choose to accept my lot and run the script as previous generations of McCoys have or I can, as my father did, choose a different path.  The decision my father made to intentionally choose influenced where I stand today quite heavily and I’m grateful for it. He designed his role as father with the express purpose of shifting a generation.

Numbers 14:18 from the Christian Old Testament tells us that the Lord lays the sins of the fathers upon their children for three and four generations.  I believe this to be true psychologically, sociologically, culturally (and spiritually).  The question I have is one of agency in the matter.  Do I choose to accept the path laid before me by my predecessors whatever it may be or do I choose to influence the generation(s) behind me.  I’d suggest that we have more than fate here — we have agency.  While not 100% agency (I can’t influence when or how I was born) but I can choose to engage my circumstances in a unique way.  I am not beholden to the McCoy legacy quite as Malcolm Gladwell would suggest in Outliers, but I do know that I cannot be separated from those that made me.

As I look in the faces of my children, I choose:  Am I defining that legacy?  How am I generation shifting?  How do today’s challenges inform this legacy? Are today’s problems 200 year problems?

What legacy do I choose?