After earning my private pilots license many years ago, my next goal was to graduate to what is known as a single-engine complex aircraft proficiency endorsement.  This means that I would be qualified to operate a higher performance aircraft with a constant speed (adjustable pitch) propeller and, normally, a retractable landing gear.  The airplanes that I had flown up until that point had fixed landing gears so I never had to think much about them.  When I received the endorsement from a flight instructor to be able to fly this more complicated aircraft, I immediately developed a greater respect for the need for the landing gears to come down every time I needed them...not just some of the time.  This faith in the probable outcome was very comforting, as you can imagine.

The foundation of our willingness and/or ability to make a difference comes from a similar awareness and faith in our own character and beliefs.  Ask yourself this question...”If at the end of my life, I looked back at the quality, purpose and meaning of my life, would I like to have made a difference for others every time I found a need, or, just some of the time?”  Your answer will be very revealing as to the likelihood that you will have consistently left a positive legacy behind for the brief time you have spent on this mortal plain.

The good news is that you have been endowed with the gift of the power of choice to adopt an awareness and a commitment to make a difference each and every day in the lives of others.  And it really doesn't matter what “flight path” you may have been on before this moment.  That's because your past doesn't have to equal your future.  I believe that the past is of little use unless you want to live there.

So, what will you choose to believe to be true about you and your legacy?  Are you the type of human being that chooses to think only of themselves at the exclusion of the interests of anyone else around you?  Or, do you want to build a legacy of making a difference for others, in both small and significant ways, that builds a legacy of caring, concern, encouragement and support of those you can touch on your journey through life?

Ann Frank spent most of the Second World War in hiding from the Nazi Army. After her diary, mostly written during her seclusion, was published some of the most famous and frequently used quotes and observations were set in motion, which  still serve us today. Her influence was profound even though, by the time her diary was published, she and her sister had already died of typhus in a prison camp.  One of my favorites was How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.  Considering her circumstances at the time of her writing, it proves to me that any of us are capable of making a difference at any moment that we choose.  The only remaining question which each of us must answer for ourselves is, “Am I willing to create the awareness and take the time to make a difference in some way for someone else or others?”

Now it is up to each of us to choose our legacy.  What will yours be?