Legacy

It is never the right time to say goodbye. We lost Pelé this afternoon, he had been struggling with cancer for a few of years and unfortunately, it was already expected he'd leave us, his whole family was able to gather by the hospital and be with him for the last few days.

Once in an interview, he said:

"I wonder if I will be forgotten..."

(Placar Magazine, Oct 3rd 1990)

The answer is clearly "nope". He left such a history, I have heard the same sentence in different places whenever I said I was from Brazil: "oh... Brazil... Pelé" along with a smile was the common reaction and usually would help me get whatever I was looking for, it was almost like if it gave me the sense of speaking better French, or some Chinese, Czech, German or whatever. I am mostly sure that even though he is now gone this will still happen.

Not everybody is born to be a Pelé, however, each one of us is able to leave behind some legacy too.

And how good it would be if we knew that someone we have worked together would have us as a role model. I agree it is pretty abstract this idea of being a good example for others, so to make it happen we should keep it in mind on a daily basis, so we'd pay attention to act with excellence, diligence, and, why not, some kindness. If we do so I am sure we'll be able to also leave some good influence and memories behind once we are gone. As Pelé himself used to say "Practice is everything".

RIP Pelé.