True issue of legacy
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By Michael L. McManus
Nearly all cultures teach similar values about legacy. Legacy means what we leave behind as our contribution to the world. Schools teach us to think global and with ambition. Our children are taught about good things in the world and what we should do with our lives becomes the central question. I teach at a university level, including undergraduates who upon graduation go into panic to find a good job, or sometimes just a job! Graduate students often have found a vision, but just need to network with their professors and others to find the next career step.
Later in life, the question still haunts many of us: What should we do to have a life of achievement? Is it enough just to be able to say that one has raised a family with children, and they are now successful? Many create that vision for life when they are in their 20’s. The dream of a husband or wife, a happy marriage, a house, children. Ahhh! A complete life! Yes or No? I say it is just step one and many get there and start winding down their life with acceptance.
I have also had so many students at an advanced stage. They have completed what I call stage one. But, they are still so alive. And young. Some of these people want to strike out into a second career and life and now want to make a larger contribution, a legacy. Legacy can be small or large. A small legacy can include volunteer work, church involvement, writing, art, collecting family stories, travel, etc. A large legacy might be creating something new that will impact others, maybe the whole of society. It usually involves latter stage entrepreneurship. Creating a foundation, a university with unique qualities. Or solving a world level problem.
Public figures, such as presidents, high level politicians, movie stars and professional athletes like to leave a legacy. It only makes sense. They are already known, but their achievements are far from over if the crowd is willing to let them go and forget them. Many of these people, with all their accomplishments, still die feeling incomplete: no Academy Award, no hall of fame, no library or hospital named after them. Big dreams that will have to be forgotten.
We are witnessing right now what usually happens to a president when they approach the end of their rule. Let’s consider how Barack Obama is handling his legacy. He has spent about six and a half years as the president of the United States with about a year and a half to go. So, let’s count his achievements. “Obamacare,” more properly known as The Affordable Care Act; The U.S.-Asia trade deals; education reform; ending the ban on gay marriage; the recent Iran nuclear disarmament deal; bringing most U.S. soldiers home from the Middle East; fully ending the U.S. involvement in Iraq; catching and killing Bin Laden. He is still working on a few more: immigration reform; tax reform, and one huge global situation of potential danger that we won’t mention here, because everybody knows what it is.
Several weeks ago President Park of South Korea was supposed to attend an official state visit with President Obama in Washington. The visit was postponed. The reason given by White House press was something about Washington had too many distractions and that a visit would be better another time. Another time, huh! Very interesting. Maybe uncompleted business on the Korean Peninsula.
Presidents don’t see these kinds of accomplishments as personal victories or the product of hubris. Rather, they see themselves as needing to play a role in history, as history will tell the story of the future. Buildings and infrastructure are often seen honoring the name of presidents, even in faraway lands. President Obama has visited South Korea several times during his term so far. His name resides on a famous Seoul university campus after he honored that institution with a foreign policy statement address. He likes Korea. That much is clear. Maybe he wants part of his grand legacy to be something here in Seoul and beyond ― maybe something new and creative. He has about a year left to take such a step.
Sir Edmund Hillary was asked what he thought was his life achievement, with everyone expecting him to say the first to climb Mount Everest. No, he said it was to have helped the Sherpa people.
True global leaders do things quietly like Sir Edmund, without fanfare, lifetime achievement, or legacy? U.S. presidents seem to need to be very public about this. The forces shape the process. Until their eighth year, the last year of service, presidents can do swift and sometimes surprising things, in fact not caring what the press or paparazzi will say. I believe we will see something yet of the Obama years. What could it be? I hope we see him one more time in Seoul leading in some extraordinary way. He is still in the public mode so if he does anything related to Korea; it would not be a quiet visit. Ronald Reagan decided to do this with his new friend Gorbachev, and it changed history forever. Reagan did not care at that point about the press. That stage was over for him. But his legacy will not be forgotten. It is probably in the national interest that all Korean leaders and Korean people should invite Obama to visit one more time before his presidency ends. The address is simple: President Barack Obama, White House, Washington D.C., U.S.A.
Michael McManus writes twice monthly for The Korea Times. He resides in Seoul and also works at three top universities as an international advisor and visiting professor. He welcomes comment at mcmismism@aol.com.