Who wouldn’t want to be remembered? Who wouldn’t want to be known?
When I first entered the prestigious Visayas State University, I didn’t dream big. I just told myself to “just finish college and yeet out” because I never really knew what I was doing aside from finishing my degree. I had no academic or extracurricular aspirations since getting through college was all I knew. I didn’t have many friends either. I was stuck on playing Mobile Legends or Wild Rift by myself while waiting for an email update on my cumulous account regarding my enrollment status.
To sum it all up, I was practically a nobody; a ghost of some sort swaying wherever the gust of the wind took me. I had ambitions, but surviving each day was my only focus. I didn’t like being around people either. I found everyone annoying and thought I was better off alone. As a matter of fact, my classmate heard me when I whispered to myself, “ugh, I hate people.” one time in our class. I was trapped in my own truth—that being with myself was enough. Yes, no man is an island, but I found solace in solitude. I was not content, but it was enough for a “nobody” like me at that time.
Little did I know that fate had other plans for me. It all started when I got accepted into the university’s official student media organization, Amaranth, which I thought was a long shot since I had zero experience in journalism. I met several people who saw me differently—a persona of myself to which I surprisingly felt comfortable.
I lived by that persona. It felt like a rebirth, a whole new self. I achieved many feats I thought were impossible for someone like me, and I finally had big aspirations and ambitions. I felt comfortable being and working with others. And with that, I wanted to be remembered as someone who carved his own way into changing himself for the better.
With the graduation rites only a few days away, looking back makes me truly realize the legacy that each of us leaves in college, the legacies that truly matter.
A famous line from Lin Manuel Miranda’s original musical, Hamilton, goes “Legacy! What is legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see,” tells us that one cannot truly see the legacy he or she will leave behind. Only those whom you’ve made a positive impact on are able to see the legacy that stays after you.
To me, legacy is not just being the best student in your entire class or batch. It’s not just being the best student leader that’s ever served the entire student body. It’s not just having the best presentation or being the best researcher in your thesis defense. And it’s certainly not just about being the best journalist with the best article out there.
The legacy for which you’ll truly be remembered are: your kindness—how you helped your friends or classmates who were struggling in whatever aspects. The smile that you put on everyone’s faces, especially if they were feeling down and needed joy to ease the load they were carrying. The friends you made along the way and the bonds you shared with them that are memorable and sentimental. The real love you gave to the people who are important in your life. The little things you noticed and the favors you did that saved others from whatever troubles they were dealing with. And essentially, the goodness of your heart towards others.
We may not be the brightest students, we may not be the best student leaders, we may not have the best presentations, we may not be the best researchers, and we may not be the best journalists out there. However, they’re not the ones that truly make you worth remembering for. It’s the certain moments of your life where your heart has healed another.
When we go, we always automatically–and sometimes–indeliberately leave something, be it in a person or at a certain place that will make people reminded of us. It might be because we are good at doing something or because of what we did that made an imprint on their lives.
Whatever the reason, it’s always just because when we leave, we want to leave a positive mark in every moment that we share with people—something for them to remember us by.