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Archives: A letter to my son
To my son, Montgomery:
My
dear boy, if you are reading this, I’ve surely passed on. Do not fret; it
happens to us all in time. While we, individually, are destined to mortality,
the things that make us great live on in our progeny. You have inherited the
fortune built by me, and my father before me, and his before him. This is the
blessing and the burden of the Lester family. We are blessed with immense
fortune but cursed with the ever-greater need to use that fortune for good.
With each new generation, the legacy must continue under the guidance of a new
head. Though I might wish to spare you from this burden, I know that you are
uniquely prepared to carry on the Lester legacy, just as I was when your
grandfather died.
The
period during which I lived was a particularly difficult one. Though my life
was lived in a time of pain and destruction, I am overjoyed to see the great
progress that has been made in only these last few years that I’ve had on this
Earth. When I took on the mantle of leadership, the world was in rapid decline,
crushed under the weight of technology and ready to burst in violence. The
pressure created by the drive of advancement was released into the kind of
destruction that no man would want to see loosed on another man. But indeed,
that was what happened. The irony, of course, is that those nations least
bathed in the sins of technology were those that were annihilated.
While
the large scale loss of human life is never a good thing, my optimistic nature
compels me to find a silver lining. The destruction of Asia and much of the
southern hemisphere has provided the environment necessary for the kind of real
change that humanity needed. Indeed, humanity, in its weakened condition,
needed that change more than it had before the war. It was only in that
situation that we could finally show the masses how much we needed a course
correction. It was the legacy of our forebears that put our family in a unique
position to enable that change.
I’ve
had my critics. Don’t think for a moment that I didn’t listen to their
protests, and take them to heart. You would do well to do the same. I had many
critics; I am thankful that you will have fewer. They were all too gleeful to
point out that our movement caused continued loss of life. That was a
regrettable necessity. How much would I have preferred a clean transition! But
revolutions are rarely without violence, and never without extreme upheaval. I
consider it a blessing that we were able to complete the transition with as
little loss as we did. Humanity hungered for a new answer, and was ready to
accept our solution.
But
none of this is anything that I need worry about any longer. I am proud of what
I have accomplished, and I leave to you a thriving industry and fat wallet. I
urge you to be a good steward of these things. You were given the best
education available, and I know that you are ready. These past few years have
done wonders for my confidence in your leadership. I have enjoyed watching you
develop as a leader. There are many ways that I know you are better than I was.
Your compassion and big heart will serve you well; be wary of those who would
take advantage of your kindness. A little charity will go a long way. I am at
peace with my departure from leadership of the company. I go to my grave
knowing that Lester Industries will thrive under the leadership of my son.
In
assessing my life, I do not wish to be idealistic. I do not propose that I am a
saint. I have not been particularly perfect, as your mother was all too quick
to point out whenever given the opportunity. She was right more often that I
was willing to admit in life. But as I approach the end, I am gifted with a
clearer vision. This new perspective has allowed me to see my faults all the
better. My hope for you is that you find a way to gain this perspective before
you lie dying at the end.
Allow
me to take this moment to speak to you frankly as a father to his son. As I
write this, you have still not married. As far as I know, you have no serious
prospects. As a man in our current society, it is your prerogative to enjoy
your bachelorhood for as long as pleases you, but I urge you to think of your
legacy. My heart aches at the thought that you might meet your end without an
heir to carry on the Lester legacy. Everything happens in its own time, and I
believe that you will one day find that one woman who will make you a happy and
complete man.
In
my retrospection, I have come across events for which I feel great regret. I
wish that our movement had not become violent. I wish that we could have more
effectively persuaded our detractors to stand down. I regret that I never
visited the savannah of Africa, or sailed around the tip of South America.
There were great wonders in this world, now inaccessible to our eyes. I apologize for none of these. There is only
one thing for which I need to apologize …
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