March 17, 2013

Heritage as a Matter of the Will

By Jeremy Egerer
Look closely at these two words -- heritage and destiny -- and see at once two concepts entirely different and yet intimately connected.  The former is what we have been, the latter what we will be -- and yet, if we simply describe heritage as what we have been and destiny as what we will be, we risk much loss. For heritage, simply put, is not a series of historical happenstances -- dead, a record of what once was.  What once was is far better known as history.  But rather, knowing that any man may read history books and place them back on the shelf, heritage is something far different -- alive, something inherited and maintained.  It is a story propagated not simply by happenstance, but by a matter of the will.  In short, heritage isn't simply something we know about our ancestors, but rather something of theirs we want to keep.  And if we do not want it, we do not keep it. For reasons of sanity, here must be distinguished two different types of...(Read Full Article)