Monday, June 21, 2010

What We Leave Behind

Anybody familiar with classical music will know that a great many pieces, and lovely ones at that, were found years or even decades after their composer's death.  The composer, for whatever reason, did not like the piece and stuffed it in a drawer, where it was lost and forgotten.  I wonder what it would be like for me.

I have a lot of stuff written on my computer.  I have snippets of conversation and pages of ideas.  I have some fully-written works that I have not submitted for publication.  If I died and somebody went through my files, what would they think?

This is, of course, a question that we cannot know the answer to, but it doesn't stop me from wondering.  Nothing is gone forever, at least, not without seriously putting effort into it.  This is neither a good nor bad thing, though.  It's simply a fact.  If nothing else, it is something that makes me want to not delete the things I write, even if I don't plan on sharing them.  I leave them as a gift for the future.  It is what I will leave behind.

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