The Legacy

By: Mirza Yawar Baig

A person is remembered not by what he or she possessed or consumed, how much power they had or
whether they were charming or beautiful, but by the legacy they leave behind. This is what I want to talk
to you about; leaving a Legacy.

I want to start by saying two things to you which I want you to remember.

The first one is:

The second one is:

A practical dream is an oxymoron.

I want you to remember these two things because I am going to tell you two stories about two people who
believed in extraordinary goals and had impractical dreams. To tell stories is a good way to learn, no?
Okay here goes.

The first story is about a man who sat in a prison for 27 years. It is a prison on a rock in the middle of the
ocean. A rock that is surrounded by the sea which has some of the largest sharks in the world. This man
sat in that prison without any hope of ever escaping. A lot of the time in solitary confinement. And in that
situation he had a dream. The dream was to set his people free from the slavery in their own land. A very
impractical dream. A very extraordinary goal.

The second story is about another man.

This man, when he was young, had a sporting accident in which he lost the use of both his legs and his
eyesight was also affected. He was, since then confined to a wheelchair. Then what did he do? He went
to get an education in the first university that the world has ever known. After he became a scholar, he
went back to his people, where he became a refugee in his own land because the invaders and occupiers
of his land destroyed his home along with the homes of thousands of others. All his life there, he worked
to help his people in their misery to bring some measure of relief to them through medical aid, social help,
food, emotional support and by teaching them to fight for their rights.

For this service, he was imprisoned for many years by the invaders and spent time in some of the most
horrific prisons in the world. And all the while he had a dream; to set his people free and to have their land
returned to them.

Then finally, at the age of 67, on March 22, 2004 while he was returning home from the morning prayers
in the masjid, he was murdered by the invaders.

As we stand here today, there does not seem to be any chance of his dream ever coming true. Once
again an impractical dream. An extraordinary goal which inspires extraordinary effort.

The first question I want to ask you after telling you these true stories is:

What is your dream? What is your goal?

Perspective is the ability to hold two pictures in your mind: Where you are now and where you want to be.
The POSITIVE tension between these two pictures will DRIVE you to reach where you need to be.

We all start in the same place.

We all start as idealists. I have yet to see a child who was not an idealist. We all want to make a
difference to the world we live in, to do great things and to be remembered. But how many people
actually achieve that? And WHY NOT?

Let’s see what happens and why.

We all start as Idealists. Then life happens. Things happen where people let you down. Often the very
people who you counted on to support you.

People deceive and lie and cheat and sacrifice long term benefits for short term gains. They are corrupt
and this and that and the other. So as all these things happen, we get onto the slide and start sliding
downwards.

From being Idealists, we become Optimists (because idealism is tough to put down, especially when
you are young and energetic) and then we become Realists, then Pessimists.

Along the way we acquire ‘advisors’; people with lots of ‘education’ and ‘experience’; who take us aside
and ‘talk some sense’ into us. They tell us, “Look, don’t be a fool. Get real. This is the real world. Be
practical. Be realistic. Ideals are okay to talk about. They don’t work and will get you into trouble. Forget
all this. Look around you. How many people do you see actually working for ‘ideals’?”

And slowly we also become like our ‘advisors’. We become Cynics. From Idealist to Optimist to Realist to
Pessimist to Cynic; on the slide. Cynics are also very popular at parties as they are witty and make
cynical remarks and make people laugh. But cynicism is a cancer. It eats the soul from inside. And unlike
cancer, it is contagious and spreads.

And in the end, at the bottom of the pile, we become Indifferent. We stop caring what happens. That is
the real bottom of the pit.

You know why people get angry and fight you when you say idealistic things? Because we remind them
of what they were one day. The flame of idealism is possible to dampen. But it is impossible to kill. It will
remain alive as long as we live. It dies when we die.

The thing to do therefore, if you want to light the lamps of other's idealism, is to ensure that your own
lamp never goes dim. The way to do that is never to lower your ideals.
.
In 1997, a man used to stand outside the White House holding a lighted candle in his hand, a silent
protestor against the US sanctions against Iraq (that were killing several hundreds of children every year).
He would turn up there every evening and would stand there for a few hours well into the night. One
evening, it was wet, windy and very cold. As usual the man came, wearing a coat with the collar turned up
against the bitter cold, and an umbrella to shelter the tiny flame of his candle from the blustery wind. As
he stood there, the guard at the gate, who used to see him every day and occasionally waved to him in
friendly camaraderie, came out to him and said, "Man! I know you are committed to this cause. But look at
this night! It is so cold and horrible; you are one man, standing here alone, do you think you will change
them?" The man looked at the guard and smiled. "I don't do this to change them," he said, "I do this so
that they will not change me."
Much has happened since 1997 and history has been written in words of shame by the blood of
innocents. However there is one man somewhere who still believes in justice and mercy and that truth will
eventually prevail over falsehood. That is his legacy. The legacy of a man whose name we don't know.
But his story inspires others. We need such people more than we need those who have the power and
use it only for oppression.

I say to you that I am a shameless idealist. I have always been and would like to remain this way until the
end of my days. And if I ever start to slip, as can happen to the strongest of us, then I want you to remind
me of what I am saying to you today.

So the next question I want to ask you is:

What are your ideals?

Finally I want to close by telling you another true story. This one is about a little boy and the famous writer
Lauren Eisely. Lauren writes that he was on holiday by the sea side when one night there was a big
storm. Very early next morning as he was walking on the beach he saw that among the debris of the
storm were literally hundreds of starfish which had been thrown up on the sand the previous night.

As he walked along, Lauren saw someone in the distance doing what looked to him, like a dance. The
person was bending down and standing up and moving along as he did this. As Lauren neared him, he
saw that it was a little boy who was picking up starfish from the beach and was throwing them back into
the sea.

Lauren was like me. A man of the world with a lot of education and life
experience.

He went up to the boy and asked, “What are you doing?”

The boy said, “I’m throwing these starfish back into the sea so that they don’t die. They can’t move on the
sand and if the sun comes out, they will dry out and die. So I am throwing them back so that they will
live.”

Lauren says, he laughed at this statement. He then proceeded as an ‘advisor’ to put things in
‘perspective’ for the boy. Remember, I told you the importance of having perspective? But there’s
perspective and there’s perspective.

So Lauren said to him, “Look, do you realize that on this beach alone there are literally thousands of
starfish? And then of course there are hundreds of beaches in the world, on which are thrown up millions
of starfish in every storm. You are one kid, throwing one starfish into the sea! For God’s sake, what
difference does it make?”

The boy looked at Lauren; he looked at the starfish in his hand, he turned and threw it far into the waves
and said to Lauren, “It made a difference to that one!”

Lauren writes, “I walked away and kept walking for a long time. Then I returned to the boy who was still
there, picking up and throwing the starfish into the sea. I silently picked up a starfish and threw it into the
sea. And we did this together for a long time.”

My final question to you is:

What difference do you want to make?