Leaving a legacy

I don't know how much you read about world events, or even if you care about world events.  Certainly the cares of our individual lives leave little room in the modern psyche for in-depth discussion of affairs on the other side of the world.  Yet we can learn much from the world stage, because it is there that the lessons of life are played out "larger than life" (if you'll pardon the pun). 

The Jan 13 edition of Maclean's magazine speaks about a soon to be closed chapter of Afghanistan's history.  You’ve undoubtedly heard the name of Afghanistan’s president, but perhaps you didn’t know that his 12yr term of office is about to expire.  In an article entitled 'King Karzai', Adnan Khan writes that Afghan president Hamid Karzai, obviously concerned more than the rest of us about this ending, has shrewdly and strategically positioned himself as a kingpin between rival groups, the Taliban and the USA in an effort to gain lasting political relevancy.   Khan writes, "No doubt Karzai realizes that once the BSA (Bilateral Security Agreement) is signed, he will quickly become a footnote in Afghanistan, limping to the end of his presidency in April, unless he can raise his status.  Challenging the U.S. plays well on that front, particularly with Pashtuns who have suffered the most over the past three decades of conflict."  (underline mine).

The exact details of what is happening in Afghanistan are not needed to grasp the significance and personal relevance of what is happening.  A country's president is seeking to leave a lasting legacy on the world stage (or at least in his own country) for his own name' sake.  That is a common enough thing that we can all understand it.  Actually we can do more than simply understand it - we can really get it.  It is common to all of us, presidents or not.  Sooner or later as we age we look back on our lives and wonder if we will be remembered at all after our passing, and if so for what.  Maybe that's because age (like money) just makes us more of what we already are.  The increasing individualism awakens within us the old common thirst for legacy.

That thirst for lasting earthly significance might be common to all, but it is not godly.  It is a thirst for glory.  Wiersbe wrote, "The glory of [human mankind] does not last. “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass” (1 Peter 1:24). Great men and women come and go, and yesterday’s heroes are today’s forgotten people. The glory of man is always in the past tense: the glory that was Rome, the glory that was Greece."

There is a famous painting of a 'glorious' Greek legend - Icarus' failed attempt to fly away from captivity. If you remember the story, he took wax and feathers and made himself a set of wings.  With these he was able to leave the tower he was locked in, and he flew from his place of solitude.  But he flew too high, the sun melted the wax of his wings and he crashed to his death in the sea.  The painting (Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus  from 1558) is of an wonderful summer day near the shore, with a farmer working his field, a calm sea and a boat sailing in the distance.  An idyllic scene.  The only thing tying the picture to its title is a very small depiction of two legs sticking out of the sea in the bottom corner, with some feathers floating nearby.  It is a fitting illustration of the best of man's efforts for glory.  In the end, such efforts are far too small to matter in the big picture, and can only end in irony.

Ironically (pun fully intended), before I read Maclean's I had just finished reading a book about a past president of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.  Dr. Louis King served the church as area secretary for Asia, then as Foreign secretary for all overseas work, then as president.  He's long retired and not many remember his name.   Of course, he never sought for any to remember his name.  But largely because of his influence and prayerful decisions over decades of faithful service, many more thousands of people know the name of Jesus Christ.  King's legacy is not his own, but that of God.  You might say therefore, that though we don't remember his name, his is an eternal and lasting legacy. 

Something Karzai can never attain, no matter how shrewd he plays politics, or how hard he tries to make a lasting name for himself.  A poignant lesson for us all.