Legacy is NOT About a Name

Since I retired on July 1, 2008, it has been a very interesting year for me. It has not all been good, but it has not been all bad either. However, the last year began with my accepting the fact that I was going to be retiring, something that I had never believed would happen. However, during the year, my mother and a very close uncle died, and many of my educator friends decided to join me in retirement.

My own retirement and my mother's death in particular helped me to define the word “legacy” for myself. I always believed that I had to leave a legacy when I left the world of education. I thought that I had failed when I retired. When my mother died, it brought the issue of “legacy” back to my attention once again. By defining legacy in the way that I will share , it made it easier to accept my own retirement and my mother's death.

Legacy is really not about my name being remembered for years to come. Sure some past educators have had schools named for them, and that certainly keeps a person's name alive in the system for a long time. However, just like a family, beyond grandparent, how much do we really know about the our parental ancestry. After one complete generation passes through a family or a school district, who will be left that really knows any past person, other than by hearing their name. One educator who has a school named for him certainly did great things for this district, but I believe that there are few people that can associate the name of the school with anything specifically that he did to help children or educators in the system.

So, in my mind, my legacy is not about being remembered as Larry Tash, educator. It is about the wisdom and experiences that I learned and that I shared with others, who carry my words and my teachings forward. Hopefully, they find the same level of success that I found. A legacy is really more about the ideas, experiences, and creativity that you have brought to the system and is passed on from generation to generation of educators. My name may be lost after one generation, but my beliefs and great ideas will hopefully continue to be passed on from educators to educators for many years to come.

How did this help me with my mother's death? I realized that I knew three of my grandparents to a certain degree, and because of their relationship, they were important to me. However, as important as they may have been to me, my two sons were not alive to know any of them. However, my grandparents are still present because what they taught their children (my parents) and what their children taught to me, is what I believe that I have taught to my own children. So, my mother's life continues through me, my boys, and hopefully through my boys to their children in the future.

This definition of legacy made it much easier for me to accept being retired from a job that I loved for 37 years. I know that I mentored several successful educators who carry within them some of what I was able to share. Hopefully, as mentors they will be as successful and will continue the thread of knowledge that came to me and that I passed on.

Was I ready to retire, no, but it was easier once I realized what it means to leave a legacy for the system or for other educators to follow.

I hope that this helps some others who will shockingly reach the time when retirement hits without realizing how fast the years move by.