Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you’re there. It doesn’t matter what you do, he said, so long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that’s like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who just cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching, he said. The lawn cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime.
Great quote from a great book. What do you feel is the most important “thing” you could leave behind for future generations?
Good question. I was thinking about that yesterday. I think one has to be really intentional, otherwise what’s left may not be what he had wanted to leave behind.
Matthew 5:9 says “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.”
I think I would want to leave peace. Not the starry-eyed, walking-through-the-woods, sedated, no-conflict kind of peace, though. The kind of peace between men no one had thought could be in the same room. Not politically, though… Relationally. Spiritually.
Somehow i missed the point. Probably lost in translation
Anyway … nice blog to visit.
cheers, Waitressing.