The world’s population is steadily aging. No one seems to be immune to the effect. Including our leaders.

This week marks a strange turn of the tides as three major figureheads — three of our society’s icons — will find themselves in the hands of science.

Russian leader Boris Yeltsin will be undergoing major heart surgery. A man of his age may or may not survive the operation or even the anesthetic that will allow the procedure to be possible. What would become of that country or the world in the event of a death?

Newspapers and television reports have recently highlighted the physical trauma currently being experienced by Mother Theresa. Apparently she fell out of bed.

This would not necessarily be considered dangerous to a person of average health (barring the bed is not suspended thirty feet in the air). However, there seems to be an underlying tone that things are actually worse than they appear.

Pope John Paul II is making one last trip abroad this week before having an appendectomy this weekend. A simple operation, one that has been performed thousands of times in medical history. But should one be overly concerned for his health?

While these people have rooted themselves in the view of people as leaders, as an idea, as a movement or as an icon, they are still people that are mortal. Whether they live only until next week or into the next century, and are we prepared to have someone take their place? Are you prepared to take their place?

Why not?

Are you ready to rise up to the challenge of becoming an icon for the world? We are human. We are mortal. The ideas these leaders have struggled to preserve should not pass from existence after they are gone.

It is our right and our obligation to make sure that their legacy continues on after they are gone.