I wound up deep in thought about the topic but I'll walk you through it. First I thought, "Eww. That's your priority in life?" which led to hateful thinking about people who are hung up on being admired and fawned over. That's when it occurred to me that everyone wants to be admired in some way. I'll take a fawning here and there, sure! But I'm not moving through the world in search of fawns. I had to admit to myself that while I don't condone blatant attention seeking, I do understand why one may want to be remembered for something.
The next day I looked up the actual definition of legacy.
: a gift by will especially of money or other personal property : BEQUESTShe left us a legacy of a million dollars.: something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past The war left a legacy of pain and suffering.: a candidate for membership in an organization who is given special status because of a familial relationship to a member Legacies, or children of alumni, are three times more likely to be accepted to Harvard than other high school graduates with the same scores
It occurred to me that Email Quote Girl hasn't read the definition. Now I know most people think of a legacy as something great a person did rather than the handing down of ideas and cash; petty or otherwise. Email Quote Girl just wants to leave a mark on the world. I shouldn't scoff.
(Suppose all you "transfer" in life is an STD. Does that count? Has Quote Girl considered all of her options?)
The definition rolled around in my mind all day, as did ending your emails with a non sequitous quote. I have never once in life thought about "making a mark" on the world or leaving a legacy or being someone who's name lasts more than two generations past their bucket kicking. (Except briefly as a child when I thought I might become a famous trapeze swinger.) It occurred to me that maybe I'm the sad case here and not Quote Girl. Do I not think I'm a viable applicant for legacying? Why haven't I considered myself a future leader of something grand? Certainly my ego is big enough, what with my smug thoughts on people who want to be something.
So I continued mulling and decided that leaving the kind of legacy that Quote Girl wants to leave, really isn't done by people who are scheming for their own remembrance, but instead is done by nice or nerdy folks that spent a lot of time doing one thing, be it studying atoms or feeding the hungry. I wondered if the Instagram culture considers that world they live in to be what they'll leave behind or be known for. What with all the followers and sponsors. Would you feel that you're giving to the world in some way? Even those girls that just post photos of their butts? Then I realized the Instagram Butt Girls are at least putting part of themselves out there to be admired or inspire someone else to exercise. That's more than I can say for myself.
But I wouldn't want my butt to be the legacy. But I'm also usually on the outside of things so maybe the people in 2065 will look back and appreciate the confidence of the girls on that app they used to use on those phones they used to carry around. "Can you imagine?" they'll say while they gather together for feedings. By then this will be done via nutritional tubes -but in a convenience kind of way rather than medical intervention.
"Posting photos of your butt? Anything besides hologram is so dull... let alone butts back then?"
"Yeah, butts back then were sad."
"So sad! Those girls were trailblazers!"
I did some more thinking. The majority of people who ever lived haven't been remembered. They all had lives full of all the same things. They had birthdays and belly aches and breakups. They grew food and invented games and did voices and worked tough jobs and stubbed their toes. Their lives mattered as much as anyone else's but no one thinks about them. They were the people affected by the things you read about in history books. You only hear the names of the folks that made the decisions and you can read an interesting biography of their life but I bet peasant Phillip with the flat hair that worked King Henry's potato fields would have an equally relevant story to tell.
I decided I don't think I want a legacy. I'm happy just being a person that lived once. I don't want to miss out on normal life trying to be extraordinary. Brett thinks I'm a little bit wrong here and that I should make goals that I would want to reach and if someone crank's out a legacy by accident, so be it.
So now I'm trying once more to come up with some dreams. For me I mean, not my transmittable legacy. Don't you think that if your loved ones like you a lot you've already won? Isn't a strategic legacy greedy? Poor Quote Girl is out there trying to be inspiring and instead she sent me on a bender about her questionable priorities. Wonder if she's on Instagram?
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