Leaving a Legacy Behind

People talk about leaving a legacy behind, but do any of us really know how to do that? Do any of us really believe that we, as one person, can cause such an impact that our fingerprint will be left on the world for years after we have left it? Or are people largely like me, thinking that those who have made a legacy for themselves are larger than life and we could never hope to do something as great. I suppose a bit of that kind of thinking changed for me right before Thanksgiving.

It changed because of a single woman named, Dr. Pamela Williams, MD. She wasn't on the national news. She didn't invent a new surgical technique. There is no equation that is going to be named after her. But the ripples of the legacy that she left behind will be felt for years to come, even though the people who are benefiting may not even know it.

There were many of us out there. Us meaning students who medical school was beating up and we had given up. Given up on everything. We were ready to pack it up and call it quits. And in many other institutions, the administration would have called it quits on us too. But Dr. Williams saw more than numbers. She saw us. She saw potential. And as long as we had enough in us to continue on, she would do everything in her power to make sure that we reached our dreams of being a physician. How many of us would not have made it across that line, had it not been for this woman? I shudder to think.

Two days before Thanksgiving, Dr. Williams passed away from breast cancer. The entire school reeled. She had been our bright beacon of hope. Sitting in that chair, telling us that we could do it. Telling us that she believed in us and was invested in seeing us succeed. She made you want to make her proud. Ever since last March, I had been planning what I was going to say to her when I finally walked across the stage. But now, I won't get to tell her. It would have gone something like:

Dean Williams, I can't tell you how much you believing in me helped to get me to this point. When we first met, you told me that you were invested in seeing me get across the stage. Honestly, I thought you were full of it. I didn't think that anyone in your position would care that much about one student. But you proved me wrong. You proved me wrong on numerous occasions. You were strong when I wasn't. You had enough belief in my abilities to carry the both of us. You and your staff are the main reason that I am standing up here, realizing the dream that I have worked so long for. There are no words to express my gratitude. I promise to make you proud of me.

There are many like me. Those who would not have made it if not for her. People who would have not been cared for, because we weren't there to fill that role as a physician. Lives that we would have not been able to change if it had not been for that woman.

That is the type of legacy I wish to leave when I am gone from this world. People don't have to know my name. They don't have to know my face. But if something I started expands beyond me and touches lives of thousands, then that is something that I can be proud of doing. So that is what I have set myself out to do now, somehow, in some way. Dean Williams, I am going to make you proud of me.