There’s a church a block from my house, I pass it each time I drive to the gym. Most mornings I go to the gym and there is often a hearse outside. I always feel like it’s a reminder that life if short and to live it to the fullest.

We all know this… it’s almost silly that I need a hearse to remind me. But our own death seems so far away, our opportunities on this earth seem almost unlimited.

But the last week or so has been a harsh reminder that our time on earth is limited:

• 8-year-old Thomas Valva died when his father made him sleep on the floor of the garage, the outside temperature was 19 degrees.
• Kobe Bryant, Gianna Bryant, a college baseball coach, and 6 others died in a helicopter crash.
• Today is the 75th Holocaust Memorial Day.

Each represents a different aspect of our culture and a different impact on us as humans. We experience each of them differently. But they all have one thing in common:

Lives lost too soon.

People who didn’t get to live out their full potential.

At times like these, we’re often reminded to hug our loved ones, tell them how much we love them. And we should.

But we need to take it a step further…

What is the legacy of Thomas Valva? Will his death cause a change in a broken system? I hope so.

Kobe made mistakes along the way. But mistakes, but he turned his life around and has been working on businesses, books, and charities to help children. We don’t know what happens with all of that now, but I think it will live on. Stronger – because that’s what he would have wanted.

I took this photo at Dachau concentration camp. “Never Again”

• What is important to you?
• What about the world do you want to change?
• What can you do today to get one step closer to that change?

When I pass the hearse at the church on the way to the gym, I like to think each person had a positive impact. That their legacy of loving and caring for others’ lives on in the people they spent time with.

What will your legacy be?