Denver is in the thralls of Super Bowl / Bronco mania this week, and half of the newspaper contains stories on the game. I confess to reading many of these stories, as I am a big Peyton Manning fan. Today I found even more to like. In an column entitled "Manning Gets More Human as he Ages" (Mark Kiszla, Denver Post, 1/30/14), Peyton lays down his thoughts on legacy:
"If I had my choice on what my legacy would be, it would be I played my butt off for every team I ever played on, I was a really good teammate and I did everything I could to win. Whatever else comes along in that time is fine with me."
In other words, his legacy is maximum effort / use of his own abilities and connection with friends and teammates. In Denver it is widely observed that he has lifted the performance of everyone who plays with him. That's a much finer legacy than the W - L balance sheet or playoff wins or even Super Bowl wins, and I am glad he put it out there.
I don't know why it takes "aging" to get us to this perspective, that life is about connection and using your gifts for service. It's so painful to get through all of the stages of ego, perfectionism, concern about image, and worry about what "they" think - I wish we could skip them all. I have an unreasonable hope that perhaps I can help the kids skip over some of it. Wouldn't it be great if we could all be "more human" with ourselves and with others - from the very start?
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