C. Derick Miller
Head Writer – Your Stories on Video
7.1.21
The Path Ahead
Here at Your Stories on Video, we focus mostly on the past. We ask questions like “who was this person”, “how did they impact the world around them”, and “how can we help them pass on their wisdom to the next generation”. Today, I want to take a moment to focus on the future. Not just my future or the future of our clients, but the focus of every person on this planet. Let’s get hypothetical.
The generation we are currently covering at Your Stories on Video may very well be the last great generation. They’re a generation with stories to tell, miles beneath their feet, and experienced both hardships and joys the likes of which you and I can only imagine through use of some of the greatest minds in cinema. In other words, if we wanted to understand exactly what our grandfathers and grandmothers are talking about, we’d have to go see a movie. Do you agree?
Now, for the real question. What about the path ahead? Our modern generation, for the most part, lives a very meaningless life in my opinion. We wake up before the sun, sit in traffic for at least an hour during the morning commute, try not to fall asleep at a tiny desk in a cubicle, grab some processed lunch from whatever “restaurant” is nearby, and then repeat the process of the morning until we go home too tired to talk and fall asleep. I’m not saying we all do this, but most of us do! I can’t help but find it saddening.
When it comes time for us to pass on our knowledge and experiences to the next generation, what will we share? When the next (younger) batch of employees at Your Stories on Video comes to interview us, what will we tell them? Will we tell them about the time that the printer broke down and we had to call a specialist to come and fix it? Will we laugh on camera in regard to the number of times we heard a particular song while stuck in traffic on that bridge over the reservoir? Honestly, I don’t think it’s fair.
You see, our parents and grandparents have entertaining and enlightening life experiences to share with each and every one of us and, through the magic of Your Stories on Video, have a highly professional, valuable means of doing so! When it’s our time to be in the hot seat, will our children and grandchildren want to hear these mediocre stories from our lifetime? I wouldn’t. To be quite honest, I’m slightly upset that I lived that way. I think that’s why I tried to concentrate on my writing so much over the last decade. I wanted my children to be able to hold up a copy of one of my books to the camera and say “My dad wrote this. Dammit, he didn’t get rich…but my dad wrote this.”
Legacy. Our generations from the past all had it and it led us to where we are today. Now, where will our legacy lead the generations to come? Think about that before you ignore that dream for one more day. I know you’re having it. Probably every night. It drives you crazy. I know because it drives me crazy too.
Take a deep breath. Jump.
Don’t make your grandchildren and your great grandchildren watch a boring Your Stories on Video film about you spending an hour a day indulging in “Kar Karaoke” while stuck in traffic. Don’t let them know that the highlight of your day was burying your face in a cubicle with only a tasteless box lunch as your only means of joy.
Show the others with similar dreams that it’s possible to break the mold of modern society and live that fantasy of being in control of your own life. I believe in you.