The Legacy (a different version :D)
Newly improved and cut down to only 299 words! Wow! That's less than the 300-word limit! :))
The Legacy
When you were younger, did you ever have anything so important to you - perhaps a stuffed toy or a gadget - that you thought you’d never live without? Twenty-thirty years from now, will that thing still be important to you? Will it still be of use? What if, when that object is completely useless, a child who could put that object to good use comes along? Would you give it away knowing the child could use it and even learn from it or would you keep it with you, unused, for the security of it being with you?
A few weeks ago, I was the child who longed for a new violin, a new instrument to call my own. I no longer cared for the hand-me-down given to me many years ago; I wanted one that was mine. Often pleading my dad to get me a new one over the phone, it was a big surprise for me when I got what I wanted. Who would’ve known that in going to a doctor’s appointment for a checkup, I’d also be getting that violin I’d been asking for?
“You know, my mom didn’t want me to sell the violin,” was what Dr. Antonio Mendoza said when he handed over the violin. His mother refused to give it away but he persisted. He recalled telling her, “I had the violin, I played and I learned. For twenty years, I haven’t played. Why not let another child learn with it?”
I wonder: twenty-thirty years from now, will I be able to give away this prized possession even with the knowledge that a child can learn from it? Will I be able to part with this instrument I already call my own? Maybe I will, if only to inspire another just how I’ve been.