What is your legacy?

by Jennifer Dinoia

I attend the ballet in San Francisco every year and inside the program it asks, “What is Your Legacy?”.

I decided weeks ago that the topic for the next Wild Woman’s Circle would be: What is Your Legacy?

To my delight, this week at Torah Study, we discussed this very topic! Unfortunately, the section we read, mostly said that we leave no legacy.

From Megilat Kohelet/ The Book of Ecclesiastes:

“One generation goes, another comes,

But each remains the same forever.

The sun rises, the sun sets-

And glides back to where it rises.

…..

“There is nothing new

beneath the sun!”

I couldn’t hep but think of Steve Jobs. Now, perhaps as an individual he wasn’t the most polite, but he left a huge legacy and changed the world. Maybe in a few hundred years people will not remember his name but they will have a technology that has forever changed humanity.

Watching a William Forsythe ballet take your breath away or the work of Sean Blue, (seanblue.net) a juggler I respect and admire, makes me feel we can make something new. Look at the work of George Balanchine in the field of ballet and choreography. I’m certain in your fields of interest you can think of individuals who have or do make a difference. Maybe they are rare like Amma, Einstein etc. but even maybe your third grade teacher changed your life for the better by believing in you, or a soccer star that inspired you to get in touch with your body and love football.

In Torah study, the point that was made was that older generations know that it has all happened before. The birth of a new baby is nothing that exciting after the fiftieth one. There has always been war. The news seems to always be the same yet we read it in awe.

Often, younger generations have this belief of hope and that they can create something new. But as the Torah section says, there is nothing new under the Sun. It is not necessarily negative but simply is what it is.

A legacy for your life and name is not in the cards according to my Torah teacher.  Perhaps “your” legacy is not possible most of the time but a legacy is. Even if it is small, I believe we must strive to make the impossible possible, dare to dream new things and leave the world a better place and yes even dream of a world of peace.

Perhaps, I still have that young attitude and in a few decades shall sigh, “Oye vey, it is all the same.”

In the meantime, I’m excited to co-create some new art, pushing the boundaries with some amazing talents in NYC at the end of the month.

What is your legacy?

Wild Woman’s Circle is this Tuesday October 6th at 7pm.

116 Clayton st. at Hayes in San Francisco

Please e-mail us your comments on this blog and share with your friends and share with us what is your legacy?

theyogaroomsf@gmail.com

Thanks and remember to stay WILD!

Until the next time,

Jennifer