Legacies
Usually the people most concerned with their legacy are those who are well-known, like politicians and famous performers. Or those who are facing death. Often I don't give credit to the person, people, thing or things that inspire my musings. Let me correct that oversight, at least in this rant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhMuCiAe6vA
Mason Williams was the head writer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy hour when he wrote and recorded "Classical Gas". He will celebrate his 75th birthday later this year. I suspect that when he wrote this song, he wasn't thinking about his legacy. But decades from now, this song will probably be what he will be best remembered for.
Richard Nixon was a two-term Vice-President and served one full and one partial term as President. He remains to this date the only President to ever resign the highest office in the land. He served in both the House and the Senate. In spite of his Quaker roots, he volunteered to serve during World War II. He enforced desegregation in the South. He established the Environmental Protection Agency. He did escalate the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, but then he turned around and ended the war. He opened the door to China. Detente and the Anti-Ballistic-Missile Treaty were initiated by Nixon. But his enduring legacy will be Watergate. Nothing will ever change that. He will forever be known for this scandal.
Is that fair? What's fair in life? Is it accurate? Should a person be known for the rest of time for the seminal event in their life? Sir Roger Bannister was a noted neurologist who did important research into the human nervous system. He was Master of Pembrooke College, Oxford. But he will be remembered only for being the first human being to run a mile in under four minutes. He held the world's record for the fastest mile for only 46 days. He wants to be remembered more for his contributions to medicine than to sports. But we don't always control our legacy, do we?
For those who procreate during their lives, their greatest legacy should be their children, and the continuation of the family line. But that's not the case either. President John Adams will not be best remembered for fathering President John Quincy Adams.
For those of us who are artists of one form or another, the works we create will be our enduring legacy. Particularly now that the internet seems to preserve things for an almost indefinite period. Had Geocities not been taken down, pages that people created in the 1980s would still be out there. Some still are. My writings in this blog, as unimportant as they are, will long survive my ultimate passing. No one may be reading them in the distant future but they will be there. Maybe by then someday I'll surpass 100 pageviews in one day. Probably not though.
Those who have spent time involved in education may be leaving the most important legacy. Our students. They aren't just the near-term future, but the long-term future as well. They will raise and educate the next few generations. They will have to deal with the problems that we leave behind for them. Massive debt, a polluted and contaminated planet, a world where far too many people go hungry each day in spite of a plentiful food supply and more. Perhaps we can do a little more to fix these things ourselves before they become part of our legacy.
50 years ago this month, the Jim Crow laws of the South were still legal. There was no Civil Rights Act of 1964. 50 years ago this month, same-sex couples were forced to remain so deep inside the closet they had a slight odor of mothballs and some had hangar-marks on their faces. 50 years ago this month, computers took up entire rooms rather than fitting into the palm of one's hand. In March of 1963, the Beatles were at the bottom of a show bill, with the Kestrels, The Honeys, Dave Allen, Kenny Lynch and Danny Williams billed above them. 50 years ago this month, Lee Harvey Oswald was able to buy a rifle through the mail that would kill JFK in November. 50 years ago this month, a 22 year old named Ernesto Miranda was arrested in Phoenix, AZ.
We still fight racial and other forms of discrimination. The Beatles will be remembered forever, unlike the acts that were billed ahead of them on that show bill. You can't buy a rifle from an advertisement in a magazine. And every police officer in the land knows the Miranda rights, although undoubtedly some of them don't know the full name of Ernesto Miranda.
Don't obsess about your legacy. But don't completely ignore it either. Create. Educate. Repair. Make life better for those who will follow your time on this planet. It's the least we can do.
You can follow me on Twitter. @cyclist1959
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhMuCiAe6vA
Mason Williams was the head writer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy hour when he wrote and recorded "Classical Gas". He will celebrate his 75th birthday later this year. I suspect that when he wrote this song, he wasn't thinking about his legacy. But decades from now, this song will probably be what he will be best remembered for.
Richard Nixon was a two-term Vice-President and served one full and one partial term as President. He remains to this date the only President to ever resign the highest office in the land. He served in both the House and the Senate. In spite of his Quaker roots, he volunteered to serve during World War II. He enforced desegregation in the South. He established the Environmental Protection Agency. He did escalate the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, but then he turned around and ended the war. He opened the door to China. Detente and the Anti-Ballistic-Missile Treaty were initiated by Nixon. But his enduring legacy will be Watergate. Nothing will ever change that. He will forever be known for this scandal.
Is that fair? What's fair in life? Is it accurate? Should a person be known for the rest of time for the seminal event in their life? Sir Roger Bannister was a noted neurologist who did important research into the human nervous system. He was Master of Pembrooke College, Oxford. But he will be remembered only for being the first human being to run a mile in under four minutes. He held the world's record for the fastest mile for only 46 days. He wants to be remembered more for his contributions to medicine than to sports. But we don't always control our legacy, do we?
For those who procreate during their lives, their greatest legacy should be their children, and the continuation of the family line. But that's not the case either. President John Adams will not be best remembered for fathering President John Quincy Adams.
For those of us who are artists of one form or another, the works we create will be our enduring legacy. Particularly now that the internet seems to preserve things for an almost indefinite period. Had Geocities not been taken down, pages that people created in the 1980s would still be out there. Some still are. My writings in this blog, as unimportant as they are, will long survive my ultimate passing. No one may be reading them in the distant future but they will be there. Maybe by then someday I'll surpass 100 pageviews in one day. Probably not though.
Those who have spent time involved in education may be leaving the most important legacy. Our students. They aren't just the near-term future, but the long-term future as well. They will raise and educate the next few generations. They will have to deal with the problems that we leave behind for them. Massive debt, a polluted and contaminated planet, a world where far too many people go hungry each day in spite of a plentiful food supply and more. Perhaps we can do a little more to fix these things ourselves before they become part of our legacy.
50 years ago this month, the Jim Crow laws of the South were still legal. There was no Civil Rights Act of 1964. 50 years ago this month, same-sex couples were forced to remain so deep inside the closet they had a slight odor of mothballs and some had hangar-marks on their faces. 50 years ago this month, computers took up entire rooms rather than fitting into the palm of one's hand. In March of 1963, the Beatles were at the bottom of a show bill, with the Kestrels, The Honeys, Dave Allen, Kenny Lynch and Danny Williams billed above them. 50 years ago this month, Lee Harvey Oswald was able to buy a rifle through the mail that would kill JFK in November. 50 years ago this month, a 22 year old named Ernesto Miranda was arrested in Phoenix, AZ.
We still fight racial and other forms of discrimination. The Beatles will be remembered forever, unlike the acts that were billed ahead of them on that show bill. You can't buy a rifle from an advertisement in a magazine. And every police officer in the land knows the Miranda rights, although undoubtedly some of them don't know the full name of Ernesto Miranda.
Don't obsess about your legacy. But don't completely ignore it either. Create. Educate. Repair. Make life better for those who will follow your time on this planet. It's the least we can do.
You can follow me on Twitter. @cyclist1959
posted by me at 10:06 PM
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