Unless you've been living under a rock for the last couple of years, you have probably noticed that the musical Hamilton has been BLOWING UP. And I have to admit that from the time I heard the soundtrack I have been a diehard Hamilfan. I've always loved musicals but as a History major Hamilton has a special place in my heart. On October 21st, the documentary Hamilton's America premiered on PBS and it told the story of how this phenomenon came to be. One of the points of not only this documentary but the musical and the soundtrack that has really struck me has been this idea of a legacy. What is a legacy? Who tells your story when you are no longer around to tell it yourself? What is the mark that you are going to leave on this world?
One of the most important things for Alexander Hamilton was to leave a legacy and to make a mark on the world. As the musical says, he did not want to throw away his shot. But what is my shot? What mark am I going to make on the world? At 22 years old I can only wonder what type of legacy I am going to leave behind one day. When Hamilton and Burr went face to face at Weehawken he had no idea that his life was going to end that day. That his legacy was going to end right there and that from that moment on history was going to decide "who lives, who dies, who tells your story." During the documentary, the great Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of Hamilton makes the point that when Hamilton was shot, he had a lunch date with a client on the books for later that day. It's sobering. He didn't go to the dueling grounds expecting his life to end in the blink of an eye.
I graduate in April and I still don't know what I'm going to do with my life. I don't know what my legacy is going to be. We don't know where life is going to take us even though we like to pretend that we do. Alexander Hamilton died a patriot, a soldier, the first treasury secretary of the United States. He left an incredible legacy of overcoming incredible obstacles and literally creating what we know of the US government today.
I've been thinking a lot, thanks to the commentary of Lin-Manuel during Hamilton's America about how fleeting life is and I don't want to throw away my shot. We have one chance. We don't know what we're here to do all the time, and I've been working to figure out what I'm here for and what my next step is to create what I'm meant to create and leave behind something to be proud of one day So here's to creating a legacy and knowing that when my time is up, they will tell my story.
