In his Ted Talk, “How to Write Your Own Obituary,” Brad Meltzer talks about how changing the way we live our lives is the way we get to “write” our own obituaries.  He asks “Who will remember you?” and sets out four categories of that part of our legacy (i) personal legacy (friends), (ii) family legacy (family), (iii) community legacy (who will remember our names?), and (iv) strangers (how we affected the lives of strangers).  He also asks “How will you be remembered?” by asking what we want “to be” forever (or how we want to be remembered forever).  Meltzer reminds us to say thank you to those who have great impact on our lives (from childhood on).  He talks about how ordinary people change the world and how living a good life is a way to be remembered forever.  It’s a talk worth listening to:

https://ed.ted.com/on/USQ535VP

These days, we have the opportunity to write our own obituaries.  One of my favorite parts of my work is thinking through the questions that Brad Meltzer raised in his Ted Talk to help others write their own obituaries–helping to shape the ways they will be remembered forever.