It occurs to me that leaves that fall are not the end of life for that leaf, but the beginning for new life to follow. This thought passed through my mind as I looked at leaves left behind last fall. The leaves that fall eventually decay to become new earth for future plants to grow.
The new growth may not even be the same plant but something completely different. There is a wonderful order to things, that this should happen.
Hopefully the leaves that we drop in our lives will feed a new idea or be part of the life or mind of another person. This continues as each generation sheds their leaves in their life cycle. In this sense we never die, having left something for others and other generations. Maybe the added element we pass on will be something of great import, maybe not. However, nothing is completely trivial and has at least some small worth.
It might be just the new earth that is needed to spur the growth of a thought that could change the world.