Legacy MattersKevin Salwen at Worthwhile says the most important thing we pass on to our children are our values on his way to link to a story that would make any parent proud in a blog entry titled Values 101
If so, how do parents memorialize their values. Too many people leave behind scads of datebooks and calendars, so we know the facts of their lives. Unless you have a writer in residence who observes you closely and writes what you think, people will know only the facts. Ethical Wills and Personal Legacy Statements are filling the niche of how to memorialize values and express the sense and sensibility of a person.
For more than a fleeting impression, values must be lived. For a lasting impression, values must be memorialized. In the past, families had mottos and crests and stories about the values they were most proud of. That privilege no longer is one of just aristocratic and very wealthy families. Any one with the desire and intention now can create ethical wills and family stories with the wonderful array of digital tools now available and using old home movies and photos and music.
The NYT Circuits features the growing industry of companies who do just that. For Neglected Video, the Hollywood Touch
Carolyn Alexander got into the business three years ago, when she bought Family Memories Video (familymemoriesvideo .com) based on the growth potential she saw. The enterprise, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., seemed more solid to her than the Silicon Valley high-fliers that had begun crashing all around her.
"I took a good look and saw that the demographics were on my side," Ms. Alexander said. "The boomers are almost 50, or older, and their parents are dying. They're getting sentimental about being the holder of the family knowledge, about the huge quantities of photos and footage they possess, and they realize they should do something with all that material."
"Boomers are in the habit of hiring someone to do their chores," Ms. Alexander said. "They don't mow their own lawns, they don't change their own oil and they don't clean their own homes. Why would they edit their own video?
But just putting your home movies onto DVDs isn't enough. You need a back-up video storage. DVDs burn just as well as old film, as Barbara Nyegaard learned. "It was a very strange feeling, as if I suddenly didn't have a history," she recalled recently. "My whole life before the fire had dissipated."
Posted by Jill Fallon at October 4, 2004 4:52 PM | Permalink