Leaving a Legacy

"A man can be destroyed but not defeated."
            -Ernest Hemingway

I think that this quote kind of goes along with the saying, "You can kill a person but you cannot kill an idea." I believe 100% that that is true. A legacy is always left behind after a person leaves. And a legacy is what people call to remember most about a person. It's based off of what the person has done, what they wanted to do, what they said, what they didn't say, what their ideas were.

Each person will leave a legacy, good or bad or in between. They will impact people in very different ways, but it all depends on what the person watching saw and what they heard and what they didn't see or hear. It all depends on the idea you left behind.

Joseph Stalin said, "Ideas are more powerful than guns." I don't think that this quote could be any more true. Ideas are the reasons guns are fired, because people have a tendency to act on their ideas. Even if a person has a morally incorrect idea they will still act on it. People can persuade others to fight for their ideas, after all, people are good at finding reasons to fight. If this weren't true then we wouldn't have to learn about the genocide in World War II. We wouldn't hear of revolutions. We wouldn't see good things either, like civil rights movements, or the formation of religions.

Ideas are powerful things, they can live for years or even centuries. They are what keeps a persons legacy alive. They are what keeps a person alive. They not only keep a memory strong but they also can give people a reason to keep going, to keep trying. The idea of equality saved many people from the evil of others.

Either way, good or bad, you will leave a legacy. With your ideas you will infuence others. Those people will impact more people.  Leave a legacy worth hearing. Leave an idea worth living.