Imagine being the person who found a cure for cancer, or found a perfect alternative energy source, or even the one who made the community a better place to live. Each person has the ability to leave a lasting impression on the people around them. This is known as a legacy. The challenge for many people is determining what they want to be remembered for, if anything at all. Sometimes people may not know what they want their future to be. Some are certain that they want to help as many people as possible, and there are many ways to accomplish that.
Someone can make a change in the way certain parts of society work. They can also make a difference on those who are suffering. Many people in this world are known for certain things. For example, Edgar Allan Poe is known for his poetry. He didn’t intend on his work becoming some of the most wellknown poems of all time. Legacies, no matter how big or how small, can leave a mark on many people. As Mahatma Gandhi once said, “be the change that you see in the world”. A young girl may want to inspire everyone around her, and be the best person she can be.
She may not know how to make change until she discovers the opportunity. A few weeks later, the “Reasons to Hope” video was made. She made that video, with the help of friends, to spread awareness of suicides and help those who may be considering it to find a reason to continue their life. That reason could have been something heart-felt such as “There’s never a rainbow without a little sunshine” or something simple like “cats”. Anyone who sees the video can find the reason they want to continue their own life.
The girl who made the video wants to continue to spread it as far as possible, and support uicide prevention. She wants to find other ways she can help the people around her. One of her dreams is to bring out the best in people, while being the best leader that others can follow. That girl could also be led by what she sees around her. She is the kind of person who takes in everything around her and looks for inspiration in everything, like what she watches on TV, her friends, teachers, etc. She uses anything she can find to eventually help others. When she helped with suicide prevention, she realized how close those around her were involved with suicide.
Her own cousin, who the girl tutored for four months last year, told her how she almost ended her life. The girl was shocked that the cousin she loved like a sister came so close to changing how this past summer turned out. They both went to visit colleges that the girl is interested in attending. Her cousin wanted to help her make the right choices instead of the same mistakes she made herself. Her choice to help the girl, just as much as the girl helped her, is another way the girl would like to help other people.
She wants them to know how things work, and not to be confused about college, and what could lie afterwards, because she doesn’t as of yet. It takes one person to stand up for the better of others. For example, the foster system is very misunderstanding of what kids want. It doesn’t let the children stand up and make their own decisions. Children could go from house to house their whole lives and not get to stand up for themselves. They have no control. In today’s society, kids are only known for what they do wrong in their life so far: getting arrested, abusing drugs, etc.
Children can and do find families that love them and want to adopt them, but their adoption would get denied for inconsiderate reasons. They have no say in the matter. Imagine someone finally standing up to that system, even if it means risking what could change their life for the better, such as their own adoption. That person, one of the lucky ones for finding a family, believed in their choices and chanced all that they worked for in order to prove to those around them how wrong the system is towards others.
When ou’re lucky, it is your job to give something back, and when you see something wrong to stand up and say it is wrong. No one should have to apologize for standing up in what they believe in, because somebody has to. That is the type of person who leaves a strong legacy for everyone in the system. That is the type of person that girl wants to be. She wants to be someone who others look to for help finding themselves in their lives. Legacies, like this, are the ones that end up changing the world. People, who needed the help that they received then in turn, make a difference on someone else.
There are other ways the girl can be remembered, such as weakening the depression involved with cancer. Every day, there are signs and fundraisers that help to raise money to find a cure for cancer, but in the same aspect, people who are already suffering don’t have the encouragement they need to sustain a fight. Someone who has cancer may let it get the better of them, but it takes a strong willed person to stand up against all the odds and be a role model for others. After being diagnosed with cancer, most think their life is over.
They don’t fight for the chance to live. Those people are the ones who accept death even though they are desperately afraid of it. The rest fight for all their lives are worth. They want to continue to live, and they will take any chance to make it happen. If those people believe in themselves enough, they will eventually accept death. It’ll be a part of them and they will not be afraid. That girl wants to be the person who stands up and shows everyone that cancer may kill those we love, but it doesn’t kill their spirit.
The people we love, even if they pass, will always be with us. They kept a strong will right to the end, and in some cases, those people could eventually be cured. If a person can manage to show that, then that person will leave a strong legacy, one that’ll change the medical field for better. Leaving a legacy is not only for the family of the person, but for all those around. A legacy can be as small as providing support for others, or being a great mother to children, or as large as making a change in the world.
An outstanding legacy is what changes the lives of many people, such as Edgar Allan Poe and his poetry. Many people today still look up to Poe and admire his writing. The girl who wants to leave the legacy of a lifetime may not know her path, but she will continue to grow and find ways to help those around her, even if it means helping one person at a time. Courtney E. Martin once said, “Good failures are what you achieve when you aim to transform an entire broken system and end up helping one broken soul”.
