“Legacies are hard to come by and if you have one going, you ought to do what you can to keep it alive.”
I don’t know where I saw this quote. Shame on me, I’m a stickler for giving credit and almost always write the author’s name alongside the text. Almost, is not good enough, and I apologize. But if something is worth noting, I always have something to say about the thought, so here goes.
I don’t know but what we all have a legacy going, but most of us don’t even think of it, and if we do the notion scares the bejeebers out of us. A legacy—something big that we leave behind for people who come after us to build on, or at least remember us by…the very idea seems daunting. I, for one, find it impossible to think in terms that large, and yet, we all leave our footprints on the lives of those who share the journey.
I suppose these are thoughts that come more easily when one has reached a certain age, which I definitely have, but no matter how old we are, it’s something we should have begun addressing yesterday.
Will I be remembered for a kindness offered, the word of encouragement, an act that helped someone who struggles, or will it be as a person with whom a secret is never safe, or the sarcasm thinly disguised as humor?
Maybe the way we approach the ordinary days matters more than any ambitious project we undertake. I’d rather be known for living in an honest and straightforward manner than any book I ever wrote but, as a writer, I’ve left a trail of crumbs out there that some people may follow. The question I ought to be asking is whether the trail ends at the wicked witch’s house or helps someone find his or her way home.