What’s Your Line?

Like many people these days I’ve been watching a lot of videos. In particular, I’ve been watching reruns of the original “What’s My Line?” that aired in the early 1960s. No, I wasn’t around to watch it back then. What fascinated me was the part in which the celebrities, the A-listers, of the day would face a blindfolded panel of four, trying to guess their identity with yes/no questions. After a few shows, I realized that I had no idea who many of them were and why they were famous at that time. I might have recognized a name here or there, and some had been in a movie or TV show I had seen once. Certain some of them are still famous today. The show had over 1500 of these guests, but I only knew anything about 25% of them. Try it yourself.

Yet this is not about an old television show. It’s about being remembered. These “A-Listers” of their time, who probably worked years for their big moment, are now some sixty years later mostly forgotten. The old Roman lesson is “all glory is fleeting.” Which got me thinking about how to be remembered, other than having a bit part in a dusty TV series. The best way I can think of is to be good to those around you and your family. Families play a special role because they pass down memories, assets, and wisdom. Many times, wisdom became a tradition, because it worked and the family prospered. I am probably not the only one to think that this has become a rarer thing to find.

Let’s change all that. Think about how you want to be remembered. Take some time to set aside some thought, some assets, and some wisdom for those to come. The only people who may not only remember you in sixty years but will also owe you a great debt of love and honor.

Ask me how.