Laying Icons to Rest

So far, the year 2014 has been one for the books as far as releasing iconic figures from Earth so they can soar on that cloud of witnesses with the rest of our ancestors.  Starting in December of last year, we lost Nelson Mandela after a lengthy illness. Then, in January, a true protest voice was silenced as the great Amiri Baraka passed away. HHP's Kulture Groove events division launched the Beautiful People Party during that same month and paid tribute to his astounding legacy.  In May, the premier Phenomenal Woman Maya Angelou left us and bringing up the rear, at this point, our beloved queen Ruby Dee went on to join Ossie in the Here After and jazz great Horace Silver passed as of yesterday, June 18th.  

Each one of these dynamic individuals lived long, prosperous, purposeful lives and through their examples, we are able to cultivate our versions of bountiful living as well. We are supposed to lose them as we know they cannot live forever.  But with their passings, there is a question about who will take up the work they leave behind? If we truly understand this cycle of Life, we live so that others may live. Their work should not be in vain.  Will it? Are we doing enough to honor the legacies of these individuals and those that have lived before us? We think this bears some serious dialogue.  Let's have it here.  It is the most befitting way of honoring these lives of greatness.