Kate called me last week to catch up on life. One of the many things we talked about is why we do our work when some parts of it feel futile and unproductive. "What’s it all for?,” we asked.
But I’ve been thinking about what our friend Tony Norris left behind when he died last month, and realized that “what it’s for” is really two-fold: our work keeps us engaged in the present moment (if we’re lucky), and the legacy of our writing and artwork will be a comfort for our community when we’re gone.
But – and this is important – our truest legacy comes from genuine, authentic engagement with the task at hand. This is our real work, and Tony’s life was a masterclass in that.
We’re all grieving the loss of someone or something from our lives; the physical proof of lives well-lived can soothe our loss and our grief, if not immediately, then in the long run. I’m not talking about the knick-knacks and gee-gaws that get left behind, but the evidence of what gave us joy, what fulfilled us, and the connections we made with others.
Photo (above) taken in 2014 of Tony Norris and Shonto Begay at Uptown Pubhouse.
Random bumper sticker seen in Flagstaff:
