The Importance Of Leaving A Legacy

All leaves dance. Shira Tamir says “Anyone who thinks fallen leaves are dead has never watched them dancing on a windy day.” Leaves do not just trot or hop, more importantly leaves do not just fall. They are experts in the world's most beautiful dance forms and styles. They dance the samba causing the branches to tremble as they shake their stems. Leaves are masters of the waltz as they elegantly spiral to the earth. With the grace of ballerinas, leaves sway back and forth; they glide in the wind and execute a perfect grand jeté. After their brilliant performance, they have no intention of carpeting the ground, but they do. I look around and the ground is a mosaic in every shade of gold, green and brown. I’ve read about leaves like that; how they are a feast of colours feeding the soul as well as the eyes. I could stay in my yard all day, watching and observing nature’s most exquisite moments.

Leaves as we know are biodegradable, meaning they are capable of being decomposed by other organisms. Nowadays, many companies manufacture biodegradable products such as pencils, straws, bowls, cardboard boxes, cups and many other products we commonly find in our public markets. Specifically, biodegradable plastics have huge benefits such as waste reduction, source reduction and energy savings. According to author Milton Kazmeyer, “Biodegradable plastics use alternate materials or specialized enzymatic or chemical reactions to break down the material quickly once exposed to the elements”.

Kazmeyer comes to the conclusion that biodegradable plastic “offers a number of advantages over traditional plastic materials” (Kazmeyer). Although this technology may seem like a breakthrough in reducing the environmental impact of plastics, Kazmeyer fails to highlight the one major disadvantage of using biodegradable plastics. Biodegradable products are likely doing more harm than good in landfills since they release methane. Doctor Morton Barlaz, head of NC State’s Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering explains that “Methane can be a valuable energy source when captured, but is a potent greenhouse gas when released into the atmosphere”. More than 30 percent of landfills allow methane to escape, rather than capturing the energy for use or burning it off on-site. Products that break down quickly do sound environmentally friendly, but are actually harmful since landfills are not required to install gas collection systems for at least two years after the waste is buried. As a result, if materials break down and release methane quickly, much of the methane will be emitted and following that, more greenhouse gas emissions. If we truly want to maximize the benefit of biodegradable products, the world needs to realize the important of degrading these products more slowly and expanding landfill methane collection systems. Leaves themselves don’t decompose that fast; in fact, it takes six to eight months to decompose leaves, hence there is no point in rushing the natural decomposition of biodegradable products it proves to do more harm than good. Is it strange leaves seem more beautiful when they have passed away, as they dance through the sky and fall altogether like multicolored rain? Why do I see beauty in death rather than the beauty of life?

If I were a leaf, surely I would want to be remembered for serving a purpose. Maybe I would be remembered by the earth, for decomposing into soil and nurturing the growth for other plants. I could be remembered for sacrificing parts of myself to feed other animals or providing a home for spiders, beetles and other creatures who seek shelter underneath my skin. I could be remembered for giving oxygen to the world around me, for breathing life into new plants. Or maybe I could be remembered for my beauty, how I waltzed through the sky and was met by glowing eyes watching me fall. This could be my legacy. Peter Strople says that a “legacy is not leaving something for people, it is leaving something in people”. Strople is indeed correct because legacies are not only about materialistic possessions that we leave behind for others, but also about who we are, how we touched people’s lives and what purpose we served that made something good out of ourselves and others. I think it would be honorable, good and wise to pass away with a legacy, just like a leaf. Humans should exist to all actively create and define our own life legacies. Our legacies consist of how we live our life in the present and how people remember us when we are gone. Without a legacy, we would just be a leaf that never experienced life or living. Jim Rohn suggests that “All good men and women must take responsibility to create legacies that will take the next generation to a level we could only imagine”.

I disagree. Leaving a legacy is not a responsibility. It is a choice we base on our own morals and our own lives. If a legacy was our responsibility, there would be less people taking the initiative to create real authentic legacies that truly make life better for those who come after us. Creating our own legacy keeps us focused on the bigger picture. We act based on selfishness and personal expediency when we direct our focus towards a short term gratification. Instead, creating a legacy keeps us focused on the long term and gives us values that we can judge our actions by. We should all leave a legacy, more importantly create one. Like a leaf, we can serve to the best of our ability, do the right things and give back to others our faith and values. Use a legacy as a beacon of light, the guiding force of our lives.