Legacy?

When I looked up the meaning of the word legacy the focus was mostly on items left after the death of someone; for example money; or houses, artwork etc…

This stumped me a bit, as that wasn’t going to be my focus. Over the last month I don’t think I’ve EVER heard the word legacy so much. The husband may even go as far as to say it’s been banded around! It’s definitely not being used in terms of articles being left in a will; so what is legacy and why is it being used so much?

The first time we noticed it being used so much was at the Commonwealth games; whether that was talking about the games themselves having para events running alongside, or that there were more medals available to women than men; it was also used for different athletes and what they achieved.

Alongside the games there were also the lionesses and winning the women’s euro’s. There have also been some specific people; people doing challenges on behalf of people they have lost or to raise awareness of different things. Yesterday I heard the word being used in relation to Dame Deborah James and how she responded to her diagnosis of bowel cancer.

So what do all of these events and people have in common that the word legacy is being used? They may not have left anything physical to specific people BUT they have left a message, an example, many of the people are role-models.

Maybe it’s time for the idea of legacy to change? We live in a multi-media world (says the blogger); the way in which people can leave things to others is so different. We have influencers; things go viral; one of the big reasons that people became aware of Dame Deborah James was because of her podcast, and videos which were then shared. It’s also so much easier to watch things from around the world that then share the messages of numerous people.

We may talk about the legacy of other people, but maybe it’s time to think of the legacy we are leaving for others!