How to leave a legacy for our great great great grandchildren

As most of you know, I’m getting married in 2 weeks time. Preparing for the wedding was definitely hard but I’m sure it will be worth it come the big day. Anyway, while going over my budget, I realized that we’re investing a lot on photography and video. This is probably the same for a lot of couples who are getting married in this day and age. Technology has drastically evolved to the point that we can preserve and even enhance memories. We now have the ability to leave a digital footprint in this world — in full color and HD! This may sound really simple and not something to celebrate, but if you think hard about it we actually have the means now to leave a legacy that our grandchildren can listen, hear, see, and maybe even touch (in the future). We can actually invest in building their future by building a library of digital content that will hold life lessons and experiences that we want to share to them. Here are some ideas on how to do just that.

1. Record Videos of special moments in your life
Share your most memorable experiences via video. I really try to make it a point to have all the biggest moments in my life recorded. When I proposed to Mich last October, my good friend, Bu, recorded the entire thing. Here’s the video if you haven’t seen it yet:

A video camera is a very good investment these days. Video editing software is also easy to come by and it’s not too hard to use. For sharing you can always just upload on Youtube. Let’s make the most of today’s technology to connect with future generations.

2. Create short videos with life lessons and reflections.
I haven’t done this yet but I hope to do so soon (via vlogs or video casts). Just get a camera in front of you and start sharing some of the most important life lessons that you’ve come across. You can have this for everyone in the whole world to see or you can just have it in a CD which you give to your loved ones. If it’s really good it will probably end up getting uploaded though, lol.

Here’s a lecture given by the late professor Randy Pauche about how to achieve childhood dreams. He made this for his kids. It’s a long lecture at 1 hour but believe me when I say that it’s worth every single second of download time. I learned so much from his lecture and I think you can too.

Which brings me to my next point — your legacy is not just actually for your kids and grandkids. It can be for the entire world. Every person has a unique life and it means that we all have different life lessons that we can share to the world. We have the potential to touch and bless millions of lives. All we have to do is to start talking and sharing.

3. Leave messages
This is something I’ll probably do when I’m a bit older, haha! Just record yourself giving messages to your unborn grandkid or something. It’s a great way for them to know you even if you’ve already passed away. Don’t leave the story telling to others. Share your life story yourself.

Technology, the Internet, and social media are all gifts from God that we can use to enrich the lives of other people. It’s not just for Farmville or uploading photos. If used properly we can make the world a better place to live in.

Postscript: I celebrated my 28th birthday yesterday (July 21, 2010). That’s probably the reason why I’m so emo. Hahaha.