Last week I was listening to Respighi's Ancient Dances and Airs, Suite No.3 for Strings, "Italiana." Respighi lived over 100 years ago and based the suite on music from the Renaissance — music composed between 1575 and 1625. Although I was unaware of those details until recently, I did know that listening to this music could make me feel ecstatic. The same is true for other works, like the second movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony or Wagner's Prelude to Die Meistersinger (conducted by Szell). I sometimes thank the composers for what they have done. That might sound silly — I know they didn't compose the music with me in mind — but it's the best I can do to express my gratitude. I also enjoy rock tunes and other genres, but that's another story.

It's like this: people — musicians in this case — who lived over a century ago continue to uplift us and make us happy because of what they accomplished in their lifetimes. The same can be said, of course, for authors, poets, philosophers, architects, film makers, sculptures, and painters. We gain too from the valuable efforts of inventors and scientists: how about the refrigerator? Political thinkers like Jefferson and Voltaire have enriched us as well; and let's not forget the spiritual luminaries. Jesus ("Love one another"), Buddha ("There is a way out of suffering"), and all the rest have influenced society profoundly. We grow from their works.

All of these people lived, expressed themselves, and left the stage; yet, their light reflects down the hallway of time and shines around us today. These beings have left a legacy from which we continue to receive benefit, pleasure, and inspiration.

Macro Scale
Not everyone is a genius. Not everyone can make a monumental contribution to society. Genius may be the result of Providence, spiritual evolution, genes, or what have you. However, as in the example I sited above, Respighi, although a genius, was inspired by composers who lived centuries before him. He built on previous works. In music and in most other fields, no one creates in a vacuum; no one does it alone. For instance, we aren't going to have refrigeration without a power source ("currently" electricity), which was discovered by others. The new is built on the old and in relation to other creations. Breakthroughs exist, though, that not only take a field to the next level, but lack any references to the past. For instance, it is most likely that Pasteur's discovery that microscopic creatures could cause disease was one of these events. Although he was studying within the field of medicine, he found a pathway to a new domain within it.

We can take this idea of interconnectedness to the extreme and say that everyone plays a part in the creation of anything good (or bad) simply because they are part of the human race. And though the idea "We are all one" is true, it stretches the definition of legacy thin, at least in reference to specific inventions or discoveries. For instance, Mayan peasants had little direct influence on Copernicus' mind-expanding proposal that the earth traveled around the sun and not visa versa. The truth is closer to this: some people leave a definite positive legacy while others leave a definite negative one. Warmongers, for example, fit neatly into the latter category. Those who contribute to the welfare of the whole fit into the former. The majority of the population occupies the territory between the two.