Thoughts on leaving a legacy
I recently watched the intro video for Soft White Underbelly, a YouTube channel where a photographer called Mark Laita takes photos of and interviews the homeless residents of Skid Row in LA.
In the video, he mentioned how the advertising job he had before he created the channel was slowly becoming his legacy, and he was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with that thought.
Watching Mark talk made me wonder what it is that I want to leave as my legacy or if I'm even going to leave one behind at all. If I think hard, is it really the work I'm doing now? Is working for a coffee roaster really giving me something to be proud of? I'm not entirely sure.
I want to be remembered for helping people, building things, being compassionate, and for being kind. I want to be remembered for the music I create and the hearts I touched during this brief time on earth.
Am I thoughtlessly using up my days with only a sort of noble cause? My current work is fulfilling I guess, more so than a lot of jobs, but am I doing as much as I can to be remembered?
Benjamin Franklin summed it up well:
If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.
And Mary Oliver rightly asks:
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
It begs to be thought about more..