Chris' Christian Blog

Legacy

"Legacy" 









The 30 Day Blogging Challenge Prompt for Monday March 6, 2017 is "Musician David Gilmour, born on this day in 1947, once said, "It's a very tempting thing to try and relive your glory days when you get a little older and you worry that people have forgotten all about you." In what way or ways does your writing preserve any kind of legacy?"

I can see where my legacy shines through in my writing. For example all my years of drug addiction taught me not to take myself too seriously. There was a time when you couldn't have pried the corners of my mouth up into a smile. Now I wear a grin most of the time. I know how to joke and tell jokes today because I have learned to laugh at my own blunders.

My legacy has taught me compassion. I don't always cave in and give people whatever they want because doing so is good for neither them nor I but I have learned to care deeply for the needs and wants of others. So empathy is something I have learned. This is not to be confused with sympathy. Sympathy feels sorry where empathy is more about aligning oneself with the feelings of another. There are plenty of people for whom I have deep empathy but do not feel sorry at all. This ability to empathize has taught me to set some hard boundaries. For example there is a man at the local shelter who is always asking me to give him five dollars. I would gladly give him five dollars if I didn't know it would only be spent for tobacco products. Tobacco products nearly killed me. I am only now recovering after quitting 18 years ago. I know that tobacco has no redeening qualities and I refuse to participate in it. If I buy them or loan a smoker money it allows them to continue smoking, rubbing, or chewing and I am contributing to their demise. I know that attitude shines forth brightly in my writing and I often incorporate it into my characters. Some people may think negatively about me for this and that's fine by me. My legacy has also taught me to speak my mind regardless what others may think. Again that reflects in my writing because I write what I feel is true withouticial regard to being politically correct.

So yes my legacy deeply reflects in my writing today.

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