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Is The Legacy That Precedes Us A Burden?
As we celebrate the triumphs of those born into the legendary lineage, let us also honour the courage it takes to step into the light of one’s brilliance.
I started listening to more of Damian Marley due to his collaboration with Wizkid on the Made In Lagos album. I find his lyrics bare and true true and anyone in any phase of life can relate to them. Despite being exceptional with his songwriting skills, he also has an impressive career with his music with multiple awards including four Grammy awards to his name. What’s more fascinating to me is how I didn’t initially attribute him to familiar relations that could have given him away – his voice sounds almost exactly like his father, Bob Marley. But neither his name, Marley, nor his voice made me attribute his prowess and exceptionality to him. I was fascinated by his own sheer genius.
I often wonder if the greatness that precedes us sometimes becomes a burden. Bob Marley was a legend. He was brilliant on many levels and many years after his death, his songs from the previous centuries are still relevant. But did his legendary status become a burden for his children who wanted to continue and elevate it? Damian and his siblings have been successful with their careers and have elevated their father’s momentum, but I wonder if there are other families like the Marleys whose children desire a different path, different from their father’s but cannot because they find it important to uphold the legacy of their father.
My father’s friend is a professor and he teaches at the university my friend schooled in. Even though my friend did not mention it to anyone, his surname and friends like me gave away an identity he tried so much to conceal. Throughout his stay in school, everyone expected my friend to excel at every course because, well, is his father not a professor? He often whines about how he’s not passionate about venturing into academics and how he’s tired of people’s expectations of him. Even though his professor father does not mention it, my friend knows he wants him to become the best student in the class. His father once mentioned that there’s nothing more beautiful than being a professor and having a professor as a son. His father did not mention his name, but my friend knew he was referring to him. But my friend is rather interested in tech, private life and not academia.
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Success brings a sense of accomplishment so it’s a no-brainer that everyone desires it. However, each person has their own definition of success, wants to achieve it in their own way and tell their success story how they see fit. A son of a football player might not be interested in becoming a footballer, and even if he does, or chooses to go in a different direction, we must try not to attribute his success to his father’s. Often, when the child of a legend becomes successful, we assume it is because of their father’s success and connection. We forget that we are individually different and while they are, perhaps, privileged to have parents who can accelerate their career or fund their passion, it doesn’t take away their individual being, hard work, and capability.
When I started listening to Damian Marley, I did because I was fascinated by his brilliance, and not because he’s a seed from a legendary soil of music, Bob. In fact, I had listened to a lot of Damian’s songs before I became drawn to Bob Marley’s. Even though I recognised Bob Marley as a legend, I was never inclined to listen to him.
As we celebrate the triumphs of those born into the legendary lineage, let us also honour the courage it takes to step into the light of one’s brilliance. Each of us, irrespective of ancestry, holds within us the seeds of greatness waiting to bloom. The most profound legacies are born in the nurturing of these seeds and in the cultivation of personal truths and aspirations. So, let us remember that greatness, in its purest form, is not confined to the footprints of those who came before us. It is a symphony of individual voices, each adding its own cadence to the timeless song of humanity. May we, like Damian Marley, find the courage to sing our own truth, weaving threads of legacy and individuality into our vibrant existences.
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