There are certainly the usual fair number of people that are not alive at the end of this year, as anyone knows who gets a saturation of media that is out to remind us of who passed away. Lists and categories. Of course we can find this in today's NYT, where the obituary editor William McDonald gives us his year-end essay on the departed of 2016. Online, the color photos are a nice touch. Print is still black and white.
But this posting is not about the departed. It's more about words I wish were departed. There's a list, but there's not much of one after "legacy."
Right now the word "legacy" is mostly being used in connection with what kind of legacy President Obama will leave behind. As if right at this moment we can definitively say what will stand the test of time. Are they kidding? What is the legacy of an eight year-old?
We get NYT headlines that go: "Obama Wants to Cement Legacy with Eye in Trump." And since Trump has only been the president-elect since November 8th, and the Inauguration is January 20, 2017, we're hearing Obama is trying all sorts of maneuvers to "cement" his legacy. He is busy pouring that mix 24/7. There must be cement trucks on the White House grounds.
As if after eight years we can tell what will forever he known about his presidency. Or any presidency, for that matter. From book reviews I read, there are recent publications that look at Ulysses S. Grant in a different light, rather than the cigar-chomping, hard-drinking general who got himself elected post-Civil War.
Books now tell us where he was great, and where we were wrong before to disparage him. The only thing post 19th-century about Grant to me is that he is on our $50 bill, and I love to see him when I cash some tickets at the track. I always liked him. Benjamin Franklin is an even greater joy.
Legacy is word that is almost repeated as often as "icon," another overused, inflated word. Read Shelley's poem "Ozymandias" and think legacy then. The only good legacy is Legacy.com, where you can find out who is not alive at this year's end.
Other words to cringe at are: viral, trending, social media, and Tweet, especially when used the the news organizations to give us "news." Most of the news is generated by listening in on the "party lines" of the 21st century.
In post-World War II not everyone had a telephone. And some that did had "party lines," phone lines that were shared by a few neighbors. When the phone rang, it might not be for you. It might be for your neighbor. The courtesy was that you not listen in. Some people followed this, some didn't. Picking the phone up to make a call didn't mean you were always going to get a dial tine. You might get some previously connected chatter. You had to wait, or ask a favor that they hang up, so you could make a call.
Party lines soon gave way to individual numbers as the installers got around to giving everyone their own dedicated line and number. "Privacy" was attained. And now? Privacy is last century's legacy.
"...No thing beside remains...
The lone and level sands stretch far away."
Legacy: Any year you're alive at the end of is a good year.
http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com
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