Follow a legacy? Or can you proclaim your own legacy?

Every now and then I hear the word legacy. Her legacy. His legacy. Sometimes I hear from amateurs or a group of people who call their work as a legacy. Or I hear that those amateurs are calling a series of entertainment events as a legacy. Other times I hear a celebrity proclaiming about the legacy that is being created by the one. Well, I ask the question to myself that do they even know what it is meant to be a legacy?

What is a legacy?

A well-trodden path that is entwined by continuous chain of followers who are totally dedicated to follow and carry-on the very path. A legacy is a heavy burden for the one who is proclaiming to have created one’s own legacy. The legacy left behind must be blue-printed in such a manner that its followers must not have any difficulty and confusion when following it. They legacy is something that the followers have no doubt about the initiator of that legacy; physically, emotionally, judgmentally, psychologically, timely, and spiritually.

What is not a legacy?

A legacy is not that a person has set certain rules and steps for oneself then achieves glamour, fame, likes, and shares. A legacy is not meant to be kept to oneself such that no one knows how that person has achieved a so called materialized success. A legacy cannot be created every now and then. It has to be long timed, well planned and certain. The ones who are proclaiming to have created legacy don’t even know whether they will be followed or not. On the clear note, a legacy is not just something that is liked or shared or followed by millions and has no depth. A single person might be on the correct path following a true legacy and millions can be astray. Can’t they be?

A lasting legacy?

Legacy cannot be developed each year, or even each millennium. It might not be developed even when one strives for decades or for generations. It is something that gets developed by clear to everyone and virtuous practices and is transferred from heart to heart or genetically. Legacy comes down from the past and is not bound by time or genetics. Although there can be genetic connections between the ones who bear the same legacy but it is not a necessary feature to carry on the legacy. One may be a part of a legacy and might not know it consciously. A legacy lasts when one consciously, sub-consciously or even unconsciously follows a path and tries to establish it clearly for the later generations to follow. Remember that even millions might be following a single legacy but everyone has the right and guts to live it with their own twists and twirls.

Who are true legacy followers?

Whoever follows a legacy, the one carries on with his/her own style but mainly follow the actual legacy. They are the ones who spend entire lives in publicizing the very legacy via words and styles. They try to encompass as many followers into the fold of that legacy as they can. They try to live up to that legacy and when they die, the legacy is already taken by many to carry it on.

A legacy that is set on a true path lasts. No matter how many people reject it but if it’s true, those who own it, who struggle to follow it, and who propagate it don’t get distracted from their true sense. A true legacy doesn’t need to be spoken of it as a legacy. Whether or not one declares it as a legacy, it remains in the hearts and styles of generations after generations.

Thoughts on legacy,

Engr. Ayesha Alam Khurram