Unintended Legacies

A pair of shoes that my brother designed in the memory of Dave,

I am writing this post on 8 November. Normally, I dont get that specific on my posts. I like to think that when something is written doesn't have any bearing on the content. My post this time is a very rare exception.
For the last eight years, today has been a difficult day. I share this with others who had a the opportunity to cross paths with a rare individual. Today is the anniversary of the death of Marine SSGT Dave Ries. Dave and three other Marines in his unit were killed when a cowardly terrorist put a road side bomb in the path of their Hummer. I could write a lot about him and what made him so memorable. As I sit here writing with a 6 day old boy asleep in the bassinet, I have thought about the kind of legacy that we have the potential to leave without even knowing it. While there are three kids who had called Dave "Dad", I dont think Dave ever thought about where he had an impact on people. Do any of us really think about that?  Maybe it is good thing that we don't think about things that far ahead. We would stop being ourselves and act how we think we want others to think of us. A legacy only really comes from who we are. It comes from how genuine we are. It is too bad that it takes painful events to remind us of this simple reality.