The Pressure To Build A Legacy
Sometimes I wonder, for some of us, if the pressure to “build a legacy” comes from feeling like our ancestors had the fullness of their legacies robbed from them.
Some of us come from a line of ancestors who, just a few generations ago, worked without pay, didn’t get credit for their work…there are no birth certificates. No paper trail of their lives. Their erasure was the goal. There’s this pressure to make their sacrifices “worth it.”
I once stood on the shore in The South looking toward the Atlantic. I’m a visual person and see images everywhere. And that day, I saw an image of a slave ship coming toward me. And to be honest, I was angry with myself.
In that moment, I asked myself “why this image? Why now? Can’t I just enjoy this moment at the beach?” — I found myself wanting to push back the image quickly. To reframe. To look ahead. But I couldn’t. And it was then I realized:
If that ancestor of mine, shackled down inside of that ship knew I was standing here years later…if she knew of me…I don’t think she would expect me to be working toward some positive reframing or whatever in this moment. I think she’d just be glad to know I was alive.
I’m not saying that one shouldn’t work toward a legacy. I’m not saying we shouldn’t work to find positive meaning, but I also think we must remember: just by being here is a legacy all on its own. No additional work is needed.
So even now, as I work to craft words, it is my deepest hope that even when I speak, I am reminded that to breathe and be here at all is a miracle all on its own. Whether “building a legacy” or not, to be here at all IS the legacy.
“…So it is better to speak
remembering
we were never meant to survive.”
-Audre Lorde
Morgan Harper Nichols is an artist and author of “Peace is a Practice: An Invitation to Breathe Deep and Find A New Rhythm for Life” which releases February 15, 2022.
