Dear LPG,

I was busy Googling recently and wherever I start it occurs to me that I can get lost in all the ideas and notions that people have left behind them on the internet.  Then I had a thought, and I don’t mean to be morbid here. 

At the grand age of 70, and egged on by posts that I have read on the LPG site (►►►)   (►►►) I have finally decided that it may be time to start thinking about my will and what my legacy will be when the time comes.

When I googled the word ‘legacy’ the first thing I found was the Cambridge dictionary’s definition (►►►) and, yes, especially when we are older and think about the subject, what we will put in our wills and who we will leave our worldly goods to is what comes to mind.   

But then it occurred to me that every time we look around us we see the ideas and inventions that people have left, or will eventually leave for us to enjoy when they are gone. I am not only talking about all the stuff that is online for us to see…

Every time we watch the television, we think of John Logie Baird and women have the vote because of Emmeline Pankhurst, we have refrigerators because of inventor James Harrison, Anne Frank left us her diary and where would we be without all the books, films and music that has been produced.  It got me thinking about what my real legacy will go down in history as.  The production of our children is one thing but then they need to work on their own legacies, so while I have a few years left, and though I want to leave my worldly goods to my family, I am pondering what I want to be really remembered for.

Many LPG readers will have already achieved the aim of leaving more than one legacy offering for the world but there is always time for another. They say that the most important way of keeping positive in older age is having something like this to think about and focus on, no matter how small or large, so while making a will is all important, I believe that we all have another legacy leaving project in us.  So for those who feel a little down at the moment this could be a way forward.

Writing a message which may well end up on the internet is a first for me, and I am not sure what I will do next, but I promise to let you know…

BJ, Lewisham

LPG has found a site that might inspire. 

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