Today is a special day for me. My grandparents have been married for 60 years, something that puts things in perspective. Something I am proud of and something that really wants me to run to the keyboard and write. What happened today reminds me of old school return on involvement; getting back from the community because you worked hard to make it better because you just couldn’t help yourself.
My husband and I often had conversations about what we want in life. This thing we both spend an enormous amount of time on, trying to achieve something worthwhile each day.
I want to admit, being the firstborn grandchild in a family with a local legacy like ours hasn’t been easy. It has been hard at times coming from a city in Denmark where everybody, more or less, knows who you are and what family you come from, simply because my family has been living around here since forever. However, one of the things I want to achieve in life is to have my actions count up until I become a local legacy like how both my grandparents are.
I don’t think they did it on purpose, they did it because they couldn’t help themselves. They didn’t do it because of the branding effect.
They just acted, did their thing, what was right for them. My grandfather started his carpenter business in Elsinore because he wanted to try it out. My grandmother helped him besides her job as a teacher of languages.
They were entrepreneurs and they were actively involved in the local sports clubs where my grandfather chaired HIF (the local sports union) and my grandmother sat on the board while my uncle and dad played handball and football like maniacs. They ran a successful business and they gave back to their community because they just couldn’t help themselves. I call that Return on Involvement. You can facilitate it on social media, but you can also do it old school like my grandparents and actually get something back from something you gave. You might call it legacy as well.
Legacy is the “thank you” or the return on involvement from the local community
It feels like good karma.
Today, on their 60th wedding anniversary, they got mentioned on the front page of the local newspaper and had a double-sided spread in the newspaper appraising them both and their work for the city. They got their standard letter from the queen and flowers from the mayor.
I think it rocks and it’s something I want as well – legacy.
Legacy as return on involvement.
I mean you just need to act, right?
Legacy as return on involvement is something I believe comes naturally to doers. To the rest, it’s something you should be strategic about.
Legacy is something I want because it’s impossible for me not to take action on the things I am passionate about. I felt like the whole city said thank you to them today. It felt like gratitude.
It felt like they got the legacy as a “thank you” in return on involvement.
And I am so proud of them. They make me want to be and do more.
ps. if you want to see the picture of them from the newspaper – you can find it here.