The Legacy
For the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord, but His secret counsel is with the upright. The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked, but He blesses the home of the just. Surely He scorns the scornful, but gives grace to the humble. The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the legacy of fools. – Proverbs 3:32-35 NKJV.
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous. – Proverbs 13:22 NKJV.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you. – 1 Peter 1:3-4 NKJV.
When a surveillance video was broadcast by the police in Edmond, Oklahoma of a bank robbery suspect, Michael Siany recognized the suspect. Michael who is majoring in Criminal Justice at the University of Central Oklahoma recognized the man in the video. It was his Dad! David Siany, 51-years-old, robbed two banks in Oklahoma in January 2009. They were not David’s first bank robberies, he had already been to prison for the unarmed robbery of three banks in Minnesota and Oklahoma and for planning the robbery of a bank in Texas back in 2000.
Michael said after seeing his Father on the surveillance video, “I sat there for about an hour, thinking about what I should do. A lot of things went through my mind, but I knew the right thing to do.” Michael said this about how his Father got into bank robbing, “My father used to love spending time at the racetrack, and he got into debt. He just got into more and more debt. He needed money quickly, and that was the quickest way to get out of debt. I’m sure he’s a good person somewhere down in there, but for some reason he does these bad things.” David Siany has been estranged from his family and Michael’s mother had to raise her two sons on her own.
David Siany has left a legacy of example for his children and grandchildren. David Siany’s legacy is one of irresponsibility toward his family by gambling away the money that his family needed. His legacy also includes an example of handling the result of his gambling, and debt, in the wrong way. Instead of facing up to the consequences of his gambling, David compounded the problem by robbing banks, which has resulted in his going to prison; and it will likely cause his being a guest of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections sometime soon in the future.
I like the slogan of Oklahoma’s media campaign against tobacco. The slogan is “Tobacco stops with me.” My Dad smoked until he was about fifty years old, but he stopped smoking one day and never smoked again until he passed away at the age of 84. I smoked some in junior high and high school, but never really developed the habit. When I was a boy I looked forward to the day when I would be able to smoke like my Dad.
My Mother told me once that my Dad was a closet alcoholic, although I never saw what I thought was alcoholic behavior. Maybe he was, I do not know for sure, but because of his example I did not see anything wrong with drinking. I did drink some in high school, in college and during my first months in the oilfield. On my knees before God one night in a motel room I stopped drinking and it has now been decades since I have had a drink. So far tobacco and drinking in my family has stopped with me. Thankfully, David Siany’s son has apparently decided that his Father’s gambling and unlawful actions will not be a legacy that he leaves to his own children.
Prayerfully, the legacy that I leave to my descendants will be a legacy of righteousness because my true inheritance, and theirs is the Lord Jesus Christ which is “an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven” for us.
(By the way that we live our lives we leave a legacy to our descendants and to those who are touched by our lives.)