Stories and Legacies
Humans are such strangely fascinating creatures. Whenever anyone asks you about your future, you always end up telling them about what you've done or achieved so far and what you want to do on the future. How many people will tell you about the strange twists and turns of their day when they're asked how they are or who they are?
Most of us will proceed to talk about the things we do for a living, how much money we have saved up, where and when we want to retire. All of these big things that sound grand and larger than life. But life, she is made up of days isn't she? Life isn't made up of a tally of achievements or trophies - life is just day after day of simple, ordinary things that you can control to some extent.
I've never really wanted to have kids. Not any particular reason, but a bunch of reasons that just seemed to make more and more sense over time. And now I'm at a point where they're more or less definitely not in my future. And when I thought about how I feel about that, I ended up thinking about this thing called, ‘legacy’.
You hear people say it all the time - “he left behind a great legacy” or “I want to build a worthy legacy..” and it makes me wonder who are we building these legacies for? Because surely even the most successful, powerful human will have a shelf life of no more than 8 or 9 decades at best. And then what happens?
Maybe that is why people have children. Because to some extent they feel they can pass on their so called legacies through the generations that come after them. And it is a noble yet selfish thought indeed. Because if the nature of legacy is that one wants to build ones own, what is the guarantee that your offspring will want to carry on a half cooked, borrowed legacy that comes from you?
That sounds like a lot of pressure on a bundle of tissues that doesn't even exist right now. And if that's the kind of pressure that babies come into this world with, gosh I feel stressed out on their behalf! So this post is for the countless little babies that are gurgling in their Mama's bellies clueless about the legacy load coming their way!
I like to look at life as stories in the making. Each day adds a little bit more to the script, some are happy others are sad and some don't have any colour at all. Some stories are short and sweet or painful and bitter like a tablet you need to take to get better, and others last longer with little episodes of discovery. I like to call them discovery stories and they're my favorite . They take shape along the way.
But these stories are all there are. What we make of these little moments that make up the day, and they're not measured in material things or the number of 0s on your paycheck. Those things matter too, but very little in the larger scheme of things. Because when you come to it you realize you don't need a lot to be happy, and real happiness - the kind that makes you smile when you're sitting on your own and sipping a glass of whiskey, those are not made of perfectly designed and curated legacies. They're made of simple, imperfect memories that are often out of tune but always filled with so much soul and painted with every hue of the rainbow. Those stories are what you'll remember at the end of your days. The stories are all there really are.