The second Iron Man movie continues with Tony Stark trying to get into a rhythm in life between his business and his expectations as Iron Man. He struggles with his health and his work and trying to keep it all together by himself. One of his main weaknesses is honestly his inability to trust anyone else when he needs help.
So, when Fury and some of the agents from Shield show up, they have to convince him to trust. And the main thing that Fury focuses on, is trusting his father, who passed away years ago.
“He said you were the only one with the means and knowledge to finish his project,” explains Fury, and encourages Iron Man to begin working on a new idea.
Iron Man is initially angry- insisting his father didn’t leave him with any project and he didn’t really care about it if he did. But when pressed, he is able to go back through the things left by his father and discovers something incredible- something that his father never conveyed in his speech, or loving hugs, or time spent at home, but in his work- his father left him a legacy in his work.
In the past, people did their work and taught their families their trade. Their children would grow up to take over the family business and continue in the work but push the traditions that were taught long before. I appreciate so much that I had my own choice what field I wanted to pursue, but I lament the fact that I didn’t follow in my parents’ footsteps close enough to take over the projects they worked on and the things they dreamed of.
Because of that, legacy is a hard concept to understand in our current workplace most of the time. We don’t have the mentality to pass on what we’ve learned because often we don’t know exactly who will be following in our place. But one of the things I love about the second Iron Man movie is the faith with which his father intentionally built for his son- and the seeds that he left grew at just the right time to make something incredible.
Most of us probably can’t relate to that level of planning. Our parents probably didn’t leave us cryptic messages stored in a model project that literally solve all of our current problems at work! (Let’s cut them some slack though- that is a tall order!) But hopefully, we were left with a faith in us that gives us the ability to believe we can do almost anything. And even if your regular family didn’t leave you with that support, you heavenly father did. God entrusted us with the functioning of the entire planet, and left us incredible directions for how to do so in the Bible, though sometimes they may need some deciphering (just like Stark did) for us to go forward in confidence. He entrusted you with much.
The other great example of legacy in the movie is near the end, when a small boy wearing an Iron Man costume stands up boldly to a trained killer. What I love is this is the part of legacy we all get and can relate to- dreaming big because you saw someone else do incredible things.
It’s easy to build for ourselves and concentrate on what we are doing for ourselves, but amazingly, along the way, sometimes we get the opportunity to encourage someone coming up behind us. That doesn’t mean they necessarily get your notebook of tricks or your specific rules for advancement, but it gives you the chance to impart something simple in them, like a little extra courage. A simple acknowledgement, a simple fist bump, or a simple smile can actually go farther in helping others achieve their dreams than we give them credit for, but only when we see those chances and take them.
Who in your life left you something small that made a huge impact on who you are today? How can you do the same for someone else in your life right now?