Let’s take a moment to examine legacies. A legacy is what remains after you’re gone. Typically, by ‘gone’, we mean dead. Possibly you were just really memorable at that dinner party, but likely you’ll be dead. William Shakespeare? He’s the guy that wrote plays and sonnets. Legacy.
Albert Einstein? He’s that smart guy with the hair. Legacy.
Like in these examples, a legacy often happens very much on purpose. I’d imagine after his 100th work or so, Shakespeare was pretty sure he wanted to be known as a writer. However, what about the less talked about ‘accidental legacy?’ Also known as legacies gone wrong. Not legacies gone wrong like, say, Hitler’s legacy. Unfortunately his legacy is probably more or less what he was aiming for. I mean it in more of the elementary schoolyard way.
“Guys look, Timmy has a plumb for lunch. Plumb eater! Timmy’s a plumb eater!”
The rest of his life he IS plumb eater. This point leads me to what I really want to talk about: Peter. One random day Peter’s girlfriend had an idea. She thought it would be fun to pick their own vegetables. Peter listed thirty to forty alternatives he believed to be more fun than self-serve veggies including buying a puppy, bungee jumping, and not going vegetable picking.
“Come on, It’ll be fun! It’s just one afternoon and then you’ll never need to worry about it again” she said.
So they went. Peter, the good boyfriend he is, even smiled while he picked. He picked just enough to keep his girlfriend happy. In fact, it was only one pack he picked. By now you probably know of what that pack was picked! Legacy.
Word spread of Peter having picked that pack, albeit that word spread slowly and with the occasional fumbled word. The whole world was talking about Peter in terms of that pack he picked. Did you even know he was an artist? Peter painted plenty of pretty pictures but all we remember is that one particular pack of pickled peppers. I guess what I’m getting at is that legacies are the worst. I don’t even like plumbs!