When I was a kid, my dad told me two stories all the time. In the first one, a couple goes to Harvard University and asks to see the president, because they want to give a donation to the university. The president agrees to see them, but he doesn't know them, and because they're from somewhere way out west, he treats them curtly. After a few moments, the woman finally turns to her husband and says, ...

In an interview with Carolyn Arends, singer and songwriter Sara Groves explains why she begins her 2007 album Tell Me What You Know, which primarily addresses social issues, with "Song for My Sons":

I wondered how my kids would finish the statement, "My mother always said … " What would they say? Besides, "You get what you get," "Don't throw a fit," and "That doesn't fit in your nose"? I would ...

On the wall of what my grandmother called the "sitting room" of her antebellum home in South Carolina, was a constellation of family portraits—old pictures of my uncles and aunts, my cousins, grandparents and great-grandparents, a genealogy in photographs. In the very middle of the cluster, in the place of honor, was the portrait of someone I did not recognize. It was a sepia-toned, Civil War-era ...

Kurt Warner, the two-time NFL MVP quarterback of the Arizona Cardinals, started a family tradition he calls The Restaurant Game. The night before he heads out for a road game, Kurt and his wife take their seven children out to eat a family dinner. Once the Warner family is seated, one of the children will scan the dining area like a quarterback looking for potential receivers. When the Warner child ...

If you are successful, it becomes possible for you to leave an inheritance for others. But if you desire to create a legacy, then you need to leave something in others. When you think unselfishly and invest in others, you gain the opportunity to create a legacy that will outlive you.

When Shannon Ethridge was just 16 years old, an act of forgiveness and love changed her life forever. While driving to her high school one day, Ethridge ran over Marjorie Jarstfar, a woman who was riding her bicycle along a country road. Marjorie died as a result, and Ethridge, who was found completely at fault by authorities, was consumed by intense guilt. She contemplated suicide several times, ...

Tom Mauser can relate to the terrible pain of the parents of students killed in the April 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech. Eight years before, he lost his 15-year-old son, Daniel, in the shootings at Columbine High School.

Within a month of Daniel's death, Tom began speaking out against gun violence. His journey led him to become president of the board of the gun control group "Colorado Ceasefire," ...

The laws of etiquette proclaim that we should not speak ill of the dead—especially the recently deceased. There is one place, however, where this offense is being committed with regularity: online obituary guestbooks.

Legacy.com is a company that provides online obituary services for more than 300 newspapers in the United States and processes more than 18,000 notes daily. Not all of those messages ...

If a Baylor University professor has his way, death will no longer be an excuse for not keeping in touch. Dr. David Eagleman—an assistant professor of neuroscience and psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine—is the founder of Deathswitch, an automated online service that allows a person to send e-mail after his or her demise.

Customers pay a yearly fee of $19.95 and, when they pass away, ...

The film Gladiator tells the story of Maximus (Russell Crowe), general of the Roman army in 180 A.D. Following victory in a decisive battle, the dying emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) expresses his desire to appoint Maximus as his successor. Marcus Aurelius's own son Commodus is the amoral opposite of Maximus. When Commodus learns that he will not be the next emperor, he recoils from his father. ...