Today will be a little more lighthearted then my typical blog. First I want to thank all the people that have shared my blog over the last few months. You know pimping the links on Facebook and Twitter. It is due to that effort that this blog averages well over one hundred hits a day. The comments help more then people know. I find it great to get feed back as a writer. Not only do you find out if you got your point across, but you also discover varied views.
I had a talk with a young man in English class the other day. I asked him why he was going to college. He said he was going to get an education. The reason I asked him was because he stated he only read about one book a year if that. So in reply to this I asked him what does he hope to get out of his education. He said he wanted to learn more so he could get a better job. That is awesome, but I then told this young man my views on education. A large amount of skills you learn at school are perishable. If you want trade skills, and current ones, you should go to a vocational school. The difference between college and trade school, is that you are not getting a skill set, rather you are learning how to learn. You learn by perspective, and by reading you learn the perspective of others. That is the value of books, and the value of education.
I am not sure how much that conversation impacted that young man, but hearing myself say it fortified my own resolve. Yep I love reading. I love reading more then I love writing actually. It helps me learn to write, and I love to hear other peoples stories. I believe that it is the story that a person tells that is their true legacy. We all have a story and you can a lot about a person by their story. Its a measure that can't lie or be cheated, even if people do cheat and lie to make it better.
You see when we die the real legacy we leave behind is the story people tell about us when we die. Think about it, how many people that have died in your life time, or before your time. Maybe a relative that fought in the great war that you never met. Do family members tell you their story? Do people that never met them tell their story? If the story is cheated, or even peppered with lies, it shows the status that person holds in the family. The evolve into a status us icon, in the saga of your life.
The other part you can see is the value of the person by how much their story is theirs, or how the meddled in the life of others. Yep we have some villains and gossips in the family legacy. You can tell by looking at those stories and if they where done for people, with people, or to people. Then look at those traits in the surviving members of your family. That is the effect of legacy.
Now the question is what is your story. Do you have one to tell. Is it a short story or a epic? Have you looked for things to challenge the attention of those that hear it. Is it one moment that you pass on to your family generations from now. Maybe it is a chain of events that reflect a full and eventful life. How will you be seen when your great grand child is telling tales about you around the fire to their own grandchildren. That is immortality. So will you live in infamy or fame, it is in your hands. What impact will you have on your family.
You have to write your story every day. You have to challenge yourself to be the hero of your own story. Be the person you want your grandchildren's children to be. You are being watched and analyzed, maybe not now. There will be a time when your legacy will be setting around roasting marshmallows. Will they be talking about you, and will it be in a good light.
No comments:
Post a Comment