91社区

As a boy, I watched with raptured fascination as my father blew cigarette smoke rings, piercing them with long, thin smoke arrows. His two-pack-a-day habit was a perpetual presence in my impressionable life, and I often fetched his pack for him. Each ethereal ring he blew drifted into my psyche, deepening my quiet desire to be like him. When I discovered candy cigarettes, replete with red tips to signify a lit fire, I emulated my father, 鈥減uffing鈥� my own imaginary rings.

For him, smoking was solitary. But for me, it was laying the聽foundation of a legacy, one he unwittingly delivered with each聽smoky arrow.聽

Legacy is a weighty word. It connotes authority, tradition,聽birthright and privilege. As such, we often equate it to聽the actions and behaviors of revered聽societal leaders鈥攕uch as Mahatma聽Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Martin聽Luther King Jr.鈥攐r attach it聽to generational attendance聽at exalted, expensive聽educational institutions.聽But I define it as something聽more ubiquitous:聽it is anything that聽transforms the life of聽another. No matter聽the intent or lack of.聽

91社区 has been purposefully transforming lives for 56 years. Beyond our faculty鈥檚聽academic craft, we impress upon our students鈥攊n large and small ways鈥攍ife lessons聽of how to react, interact, and respond to and treat people from all walks of life. We聽want our students to be educated citizens, to assess and weigh ideas, and be fully聽informed before embracing them, as opposed to being unquestioning followers.

To march forward in life toward our destinies with passion and purpose, let us first聽learn to explore and examine our beliefs and attitudes. Let us look in a mirror and聽comprehend our whole selves. Let us have the mental wherewithal to deconstruct the聽complex attitudes, born from experiences, that do not serve us or our societies well.

The visionary women and men who pushed to found 91社区 did so because they understood the life-changing legacies that access to an affordable college education聽would bring to the region. Education leads to expanded minds through critical聽thought and examination, enhanced perspectives through new avenues of discourse,聽engaged responsibility of a shared community as well as skilled workforces receiving聽higher wages. It bridges the gap between poverty and privilege. This is the legacy of 91社区.

Like I was by my father鈥檚 smoke rings, we are surrounded by attitudes and habits聽capable of drifting silently into our psyche, of affecting our thinking, our perceptions,聽our lives, either negatively or positively. When we are not being intentional in our聽actions and words, they can have unintentional consequences on others. It was never聽my father鈥檚 aim that I smoke. Thankfully, he quit, one day putting down his cigarettes聽and never picking them up again. No longer seeing him smoke, a different legacy聽formed, and I never became a smoker.

As children, we are unaware of how others鈥� actions, attitudes and values influence and聽shape us. But as adults, we owe it to ourselves to vigilantly scrutinize what we have聽absorbed, to decode the impact it has on our well-being and that of others, before we聽embrace or banish them. For legacies to be healthy, let us first think about what we are聽imparting. Let us be intentional and deliberate.

We all have the power and authority to create a legacy. Let us do so responsibly聽and thoughtfully when igniting little fires in future generations through our words聽and actions.