Leaving Your Words Behind

The Importance of Creating a Legacy

 In our communities we have many watering holes, anywhere where people are congregating and conversing. The barber and beauty shops, nail salons, coffee houses, smoke shops, restaurants and bars. Places where the discussion is lively. Politics, religion, sports, family, are fair game for watering hole conversations.

We debate, dream, create, discuss, argue and lament about the world we live in today. We talk loud, laugh, interrupt each other, agree, and disagree as we talk about who did what, how they did it and what they need to do. Places that yields networking opportunities, business ventures and partnerships. Some of the best sales I made were from the many street vendors that dash in and out of these establishments, selling everything from a sandwich to a suitcase.

While moving in this “village” environment   I began to see that something else was going on, sometimes the conversation shifts. It gets a little uneasy, uncomfortable, silent, and people begin to disconnect, pulling out cell phones, leaving the premises, turning back to the task at hand, until someone changes the subject. Then the conversation picks up again, as we move on to the next subject at hand.

What happens in the uncomfortable and silent time of the conversation? As I ponder the question, I began to think about the times long ago when I sat in the beauty/barber shop with my mother, listening to the banter.  I heard comments like “when is somebody going to invent a …?”Or “all you need to do is…” I heard grand ideas of inventions and solutions that made perfect sense. I’d find myself nodding in agreement, thinking I hope somebody does that because one day I’d like to buy one.

I believe that it’s our own inadequacies that we feel in the uncomfortable times, our inability to place importance on that voice that tells us to create something for the future. It’s time to get busy; we must leave something tangible for our future generations to build on because our legacies are foundational. Often our creativity or business is so simple that we don’t put ancestral value on it. So I ask the question” if we don’t who will?”  Must we wait for the right time or situation to begin creating?  Must we wait on someone to do it for us??  Or will it die with us? Why are we brushing aside the inner voice trying to guide us? I shudder to think of our answers.

I can no longer ignore it, nor do I want to, it’s time to take responsibility of our God given gifts. A definition of legacy states-something handed down from an ancestor or a predecessor or from the past. We must leave our words behind. Not only for future generations, but for present day situations, someone needs to hear our words now.  

For the past several years California State Senator Curren Price has seen the value of literacy and creating a legacy by sponsoring the Annual Curren Price Writers Contest along with the Genesis Writers and Reflections Publishing House. He is dedicated to doing all he can to give the writer the opportunity to begin the process of creating a legacy that he provides cash prizes for 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place winners along with a commendation from the State of California, that any participant would be honored to receive at the 6^th Annual Make it Happen Writers Seminar sponsored by Reflections Publishing in February 2013.

For story and submission guidelines: email dabellis@reflectionspublishings.net or call Deborah Bellis at 310/695-9800