Thoughts

I've been thinking a lot lately about the term "legacy." It seemed antiquated and dated in today's world, where change is inevitable. Why bother holding on to something if a fully disposable, but clearly superior version is just around the corner? However, now I'm not so sure that's the best way to look at things...

Planned Human Obselecense

This is a ton of hype around human technological advancement, most of it is totally warranted, but there is another dimension that is completely overlooked. Something primitive or a "legacy" of yester days. That legacy is our human empathy and our desire to connect with things and those around us. Most of the time, we can bury this legacy behind a plethora of things to do, places to go, objectives to achieve, or even fear of rejection. However, this legacy has a heart-beat and a pulse that flashes whether you pay attention or not. It's that small gesture you perform to help someone or a dedication to a craft that expresses that inner creativity. We all want to improve our skills so we can ultimately be able to provide for our family's needs, but it shouldn't come at the expense of our legacy.

On the flip side of legacy is the one we find in our environment. The cultural climate we find ourselves in can distort our world perception. It can drive the creation of value and human creativity, or it can enforce order and discipline. As an example, I frequented a restaurant where the waiter would make marvelous paper mache flowers. In the corner of the restaurant was a spectacular tree he had put together with intricately winding branches leading to a colorful paper mache flower. Surely he didn't have to do this to get food and bring it to a customer, but he was adding some of his "legacy" into the environment. It was almost magical how a simple work of art was capable of filling a room through someone's creativity.

Right now, we are going through a great pause in human productivity, and it's leaving our legacy bare for us to witness. Why do we feel suffocated or trapped being at home without being able to produce? Has our society only desired the production of goods for others to consume for consumption's sake? How does our legacy reawaken?