What do you want to be written on your tombstone? What would you like to be your epitaph? Have you ever written an epitaph or an obituary for yourself? I can remember doing this back in what we used to call Junior High or maybe it was High School. I have no idea what I wrote. If I ever run across the assignment, I hope I at least find it amusing and hopefully not too humiliating!
I recently read what I consider to be an ultimate epitaph. It is poignant and poetic. It embodies the essence of Christianity. It describes a life lived for the common good and not personal gain.
“He could have added fortune to fame, but caring for neither, he found happiness and honor in being helpful to the world.”
This is on the gravestone of the famous scientist, artist, and teacher, George Washington Carver. Carver is known for his work with the peanut. Maybe not as well known is why he pursued his agricultural investigations and inventions. The boll weevil was decimating the cotton crop in the south and Carver wanted to promote other crops that would thrive. He wanted to offer help to small farmers in diversifying their crops so that they could survive. He wanted to create a market for a variety of crops so that farmers would have options beyond cotton. So Carver found many uses not only for the peanut, but for sweet potatoes, soybeans, and pecans. His goal was not to make himself famous by coming up with multiple uses for the peanut; his goal was to help farmers prosper and thrive.
In addition to his scientific investigation, Carver was a teacher. For most of his career, he taught at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He helped students to learn the ways of botany and agriculture. But that is not all. Carver felt that in addition to fostering the intellectual development of his students, he was responsible for nurturing their character as well.
Carver had a list of 8 cardinal virtues that he insisted on teaching his students:
Be clean both inside and out.
Neither look up to the rich nor down on the poor.
Lose, if need be, without squealing.
Win without bragging.
Always be considerate of women, children, and older people.
Be too brave to lie.
Be too generous to cheat.
Take your share of the world and let others take theirs.
These virtues were grounded in Carver’s Christian faith. Carver was a dedicated Christian. He taught Bible Study at Tuskegee. He believed that God and science went together and he was an adamant follower of Jesus.
Carver left quite a legacy; one that continues to enrich and instruct us today. In this Lenten season of reflection we might consider asking ourselves what kind of legacy we are leaving for others? What might be put on our gravestone?
Prayer: We are grateful for the many ways that we are given to learn about the world and to learn about ourselves. We honor the legacy of those who have gone before us and all that they have bequeathed to us in terms of wisdom, experience, and knowledge. There are so many who have lived for others and we are benefitting from their faith. May we use each and every day as an opportunity to learn and to give in the spirit of people like George Washington Carver. We pray for the desire and the discipline to follow Jesus. Amen.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 