MARP PAGES Fall 2002 Editorial

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Editorial, Fall 2002 issue of PAGES: Back to Editorial Archive List "Looking Around Me" After you've gone, the legacy lives on After all the words are said and all the deeds are done, After you're gone the story goes on, The chapters of the book unfold, a life that's built upon. And a child of a child hears a story passed down from a father to a son. Time was when the road turned from one way to another, a path was set before the chance became forever gone. A child of a child hears a story, and walks the unfinished path begun by one who's race is already run. After you're gone, the legacy lives on, And what became of who you are is written down in stone, And written on the lives of those who carry on After you're gone. I wish you all could have heard it. Maybe you will. As Duane Hershberger sang these words and played his guitar, his listeners just knew — he would go far! And the story that went with the words he had written and performed for us was also good. A grandfather during the Depression was offered $35 a month to maintain a moonshine still on the back lot of his Amish farm in South Carolina. Grandpa needed the money to feed and cloth his family, but he turned it down! And Duane, "a child of a child," remembers. We like the song because it is sung beautifully and it reminds us of good examples set for us — of faith and of action. Sunday's sermon by Pastor Mike Derstine reminded our congregation of Jesus' familiar warning to his followers, "Do what those scribes and Pharisees say, but not what they do!" Mike chose to emphasize the narrow view we so often have — are we actively "seeing" our neighbor? Thinking too self-consciously about how we want to be remembered is not the point. Following one's own God-shaped conscience surely is. Reflecting on this idea of legacies handed on can help us find a cleared path for our own lives which "after all the words are said and all the deeds are done" will "live on." Pages editorial (Fall 2002) — Helen L. Lapp top Mennonite Association for Retired Persons 717-201-8391 ~ E-mail