The Golden Rule

I loved Betty White.  I don’t mean that I was a fangirl or even a superfan, just simply that I admired her from afar.  From the few details I know about her life outside of her career, we share some things in common – my favorite being a love of animals.  She’s quoted many times talking about her fascination with them and the joy she received from giving/receiving care to/from them.  If you’ve seen the documentary “Betty White: First Lady of Television”, you know that it ends with footage of her feeding and cuddling her big Brown Bear friend named “Bam Bam” at the LA Zoo.  Pretty amazing.

Why am I talking about Betty White?  Because after losing my dear friend and then my father in 2021, I’m paying more attention to legacies than ever before.  Betty White’s passing amplified how powerful a legacy can be.  Her career accolades were many and she lived much of her life on a public stage, but what’s being remembered with such reverence is how she carried herself and treated others/animals.  By all accounts, she struck people as kind, witty, funny, smart, compassionate, honest, fun, open, and loving.  Here’s the good news: those are traits we can all cultivate.    

When you think about your legacy, do you think about it in terms of your achievements or who you actually are?  Make no mistake, what we do is important, but how we do it matters more. Turns out you don’t have to be an actual “Golden Girl” to leave a golden footprint.