Leave nothing but footprints. Take nothing but memories.
If there is anything that we are ever encouraged to leave behind it would be footprints and as any detective fiction fan would tell you, they can leave a wealth of information behind.
Footprints are usually left behind accidentally, they are not something people go out of their way to leave behind and so they often are only part of the picture, failing to leave much more than a shallow indent on the ground. But even that indent tells of what they were wearing shoes or bare feet. It might tell you how they walked (perhaps they ran) or if you can follow it, where they were going.
But trails of footprints fascinate me because they make me imagine all kinds of possibilities. They make me wonder how they got there and where their creator was going. I might never know the story behind them, but that is okay. The story I imagine is probably more interesting anyway.
Sometimes I try to create the perfect footprint, a clear print which will leave behind my mark and let people know I was there. But no footprint will last for a long time. It won’t be long before water or wind will make it dissapear. Footprints tell their stories only for a short time. But in the time they are there we get to wonder about why they are there, what happened for them to be there. The stories we get from footprints are fascinating in their fleetingness.
Do you ever notice footprints? Have you ever thought about the stories they leave behind. Perhaps it is not so much a story that can be ascertained as truth but more a story for our imaginations to create.
This is the seventh in series of posts exploring how humans leave things behind which can tell a little bit of who they are. If you enjoyed this one, why not check out some of the others.
Stories of Life, Part 1 – Objects
Stories of Life, Part 2 – Words
Stories of Life, Part 3 – Trees
Stories of Life, Part 4 – Marks
Stories of Life, Part 5 – People
Stories of Life, Part 6 – Photos
THOUGHTS OF A STUDENT 