What is the greatest thing you might hope to achieve in life? What’s the most powerful
legacy – the most “you” thing – that you could leave to the world?
T’other day I
came across some beautiful words from the film director Jon Favreau*,
describing his delight at the afterlife his film Elf** has had.
Some ideas
– some artistic creations, some songs, some films – effectively cease
to be the property of their creators***. The world takes them on and runs
with them. Sometimes the creator has to just let go and know they were the conduit for a force of illumination they could never have expected.
Favreau says perhaps the proudest moment so far in his career has been to see people who love Elf make it their own. They’re the ones who revive it Christmasly, attend quote-along screenings, make bespoke, silly Elf t-shirts.
He has such a way with words. Favreau talks about how the moments that really stand out "as you scale the world to that kind of mountain view that you have as you
get older.” He describes his pride in the delightful surprise that is the way Elf (and Buddy, the titular helper of Santa, as portrayed by Will Ferrell) lives on in people’s hearts and imaginations in the following way:
“There’s a light that’s shining into the world because of something that I was a part of.”
Can
there be a better description of the beauty and privilege of getting
older than scaling the world to achieve a mountain view? Or a higher or
more laudable aspiration than being involved in something that becomes a
light that shines into the world of others?
So what is the most “you” thing that you could leave to the world? There’s never a better time to start thinking about it than the present moment.
You bring light in.
Footnotes
* Gentle reader, I realise that this is my second post in a row to be inspired by a Nerdist podcast (following on from last week’s West Wing-related words). I will attempt to cast my net wider vis a vis blogspiration next time. In the meantime, please do give Favreau’s words a listen. So articulate, such a lovely outlook on the world.
** Elf really is fantastically great. You don’t need to wait for Xmas or have children to love it. Treat yourself.
*** Clearly I don’t mean in a copyright/IP (that horrid acronym for “intellectual property”) sense. More in the sense of the audience tapping into the essence of a given work – which, crucially, may not even be anywhere near the creator’s original intention – and running with it.
- Image at top is a December 2015 sunrise as enphotographulated from mjcarty’s back bedroom window.
MJCarty 