markkur
Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
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posted June 07, 2016 01:09 AM |
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Edited by markkur at 01:10, 07 Jun 2016.
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Write
Thought I'd share something that I wrote several years ago that will always matter.
“Write”
I am standing on a beach in my mind. I bend down and pick up a piece of driftwood. It is thin, about a foot long, seems stout and has a nice point. I bend down low to the sand and I use it as if it were an overgrown pencil while holding it like a sword. I hear the surf in the background while I write, sounding as if 20 people were saying a slow and hypnotic…shush. I’ve now written one single word. I do not care that I have only moments before the message will disappear forever under the foamy last reach of a wave.
As I stand and look at the spot where my etching had been, I hear a young voice near me. I look up and a young boy about 12 tells me again, “You need to be over there“ while he pointed to a dry area. “What were you writing? Your name?” “No“, I responded, looking back to the smooth empty spot on the sand. I looked back at his face and focused on his dark brown eyes, “I was writing for effect” and then I whispered the vanished word, as if it were the method to transform a salad into a snickers bar. He looked at me like I was a madman, said a quick “bye“, then he continued on his walk to wherever his life will take him. I immediately found myself magically transported back to my personal space-captain chair. It was in the correct forward position during my safe landing.
Lovers have written their names together on beaches, that beach too I’m sure and in various earth all over the world. Imagine over the centuries how many times initials were cut into tree trunks or names and dates chiseled in granite, at places like Elephant Rocks in southeastern Missouri. We have centuries of little epitaphs saying; “don’t forget us” and “don’t forget me“.
It’s far from being only lovers that attempt to leave something behind for others to see and read. How many times has Help been spelled out in arranged rocks or dug out of a dirt cliff-face? I’m not old enough to know what ‘Kilroy was here’ was about, but I know from reading History, that he was…there, at least to troops fighting in battles during World War Two. I’ve read that Indians would bend young saplings and make arrow-like signs for travelers to see and use, that pointed the way to a camp or trail.
The effort of writing and leaving behind, takes more formal expressions. When churches, City Halls or Capitol buildings and buildings of all types and purposes have been erected all around the globe, cornerstones proclaiming the year were as typical and expected as the foundations for each building’s walls.
What is a grave-marker but this same ‘need’ but in a far more serious tone? The passing fancy of lovers too often becomes the removal of a tattooed name but the names and dates on tombstones are making a declaration about a most important subject; a life or shared-lives. This man was and he lived at his time. This couple married and they must have loved each other because they lived together for 50 years.
Sometimes the writing on a tomb has been a different sort of statement. Instead of proclaiming a long life or giving evidence for a long marriage, one couple wrote on the sarcophagus of their 5 year-old, a sad poetic testament describing their shared grief, a written sob, sounded after the tragic loss of their little girl. As long as that granite can be read, the writing legible; anyone passing by, will know the names of the girl and her parents and that “Their wreck was total”.
Why did I write ’write’? Because for too many they will write in have -to situations only. We have to write our names on a check before we send, the recipient cannot do a thing with it without our signing that we agree to pay. We have to write obituaries. Well, someone has to in a family. It’s not a want-to it’s a have-to. The end of a life requires this effort on the headstone but what about a life that still is adding time to the dash between dates?
Why does a relatively small amount of people feel they have to write while most others behave as if their writing is of little or no consequence? Even though many of the latter group would carve initials on a tree or draw a heart in the sand why should they think that they’ve nothing ‘important to say? Baloney! Tis time to venture forth if you think your words unimportant. Consider this; to say nothing…still says something.
Why did a lady save her husbands letters from the Great War? Why will a young man keep the first birthday card he received from his girl-friend. Why are pictures in a family album far more important if Grampa’s writing is on the back describing the scene/event or grandma’s writing, of who each of the people in the picture is, from right to left. The answer led to picture software companies providing Caption text-boxes but that does not come close to what a living family member can inscribe on a picture or most anything else in life.
I was told a long time ago, in an ill-spirited manner, that I have a need to leave a legacy. I did not doubt it but I did not believe it either and I know the truth lies in between the two stances. I am not obsessed with leaving something grand behind, some ‘legacy’ bearing my name from fame or fortune, but I am very passionate about leaving something ‘important’ behind.
When I say passionate I mean “passion-nut”. “Give yourself a break today” Go for the Gusto” , “Be all that you can be”, “never say die“ “swing for the fences “, “just do it” and “reach out and touch someone.” and write something, anything, at some place or any place. What you have to say matters. Need proof?
Talk radio is huge now …right? The opinion shows on cable always have e-mail comments from viewers correct? The letters to the editor column still exist in every newspaper today as always, affirmative? The Internet news world is divided between the news article and the responses to it that are listed below. If that is not enough evidence then think on what drives the Internet world. It is where you visit, what you like, what you dislike and one day soon it will be what you are writing about because that is the surest evidence to what you think. You may think that I am out to get you to speak out and that is true but not to any of those places but to your loved ones. If people that have never laid an eye on you can care what you think, imagine how much your thoughts matter to those that love you. That is the real reason to write and that is why I have written this article.
My suggestion to all is this; Write about a few important topics. Write out your definition of ‘Love’’. Write something about another important topic in life, there are several to choose. Hope, Faith, Learning, Determination etc. any or all and many more topics are good to leave behind for more than one good reason. One might guide a grandchild or give an insight into understanding you. Could there be a better legacy?
I am back at the beach. Another wave comes up and washes over the spot where I had written long ago. The wave pulls back and the foam slowly disappears leaving one word behind…Write.
Markkur 2008
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"Do your own research"
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