This week, with the actualization of two very difficult resignations, I have thought a lot about legacy, to the point that when a potential new English teacher visited our campus, one of my interview questions was, "Many years from now, when you finally hang your hat up for the last time, what do you want your legacy to be?" It's a question we all struggle with at times, but rarely do we have moments to feel it, to experience it, and to see it. Miss Dorian and Mr. Shaw, however, are.

This week, as I've reflected on these two and the legacy they are leaving behind, one simple truth has worked itself to the surface: consistency. We do not build a legacy out of a single moment, a great week of teaching, or merely with profound ideas and self aggrandizing. We build them through consistency of action, through deep conviction, and by the small and simple and somewhat insignificant moments throughout each and every day. We build them slowly, we build them deliberately, believing, in the end, they will matter. Which, as we can plainly see, they do. Miss Dorian is respected not because of one strong unit or a few purposeful lessons, but because of all of them. Mr. Shaw is revered not because of one solid year of teaching and coaching, but because of 39 of them (Think about how many lives he has impacted! Wowzas.). Their day in and day out lives is what leaves their legacy. And the longer they and we are fortunate enough to live and teach and encourage others, the deep and wider that legacy, that influence, spreads.

What do you hope will be left behind and remembered when you are gone? What will fill in the dash of your time as a teacher? Parent? Friend? And person?  

What is your desired legacy? 

And, perhaps more importantly, what are you doing - each and every day - to ensure it?

As I try - like you - to wrestle with two very difficult resignation letters, these are the questions that have been deeply impressed upon my heart this week.