Life: it goes on

By LaGs · Jul 2, 2011 · 484 · 8

(This is such a cheesey topic and there's no way I can word things like this without it sounding melodramatic, so I apologise in advance )

When I turn on the TV or read the newspaper, so much of the space talks about death. And I know that in itself is such a depressing thought, but it got me thinking: You see or read of people dying in tragic circumstances, and then what happens? The TV or newspaper notes what happened, how the person died, and then it moves on. Aside from the immediate family, when time passes, people are forgotten.

What kind of legacy does the normal person leave? If he died tragically, the TV might mention he was quiet and well-mannered, liked by the people who knew him. Or he might have been loud and popular. Either or. And of course those are enviable qualities a person can have. When you see it, you feel a temporary sadness that that person is dead. But will he be remembered 100 years down the line? You look at history and read about so many remarkable people who left their imprint.

But most people could type their name into Wikipedia and nothing would come back. Or even Google for that matter. If you were to vanish in the morning what easily accessible points info would there be that said, yes, this man lived life, and this is how he lived it.

Does that mean that you haven't achieved anything worth noting? Is it even such a big deal that you won't be remembered in the wider sense of the word?

I would be curious as to what people thought about this. Would you be happy to live a quiet life, maintaining the status quo, or do you strive for something different? Something bigger?

I suppose the crux of the matter is that life soldiers on, inexorably, no matter who you are.

And again I apologise for the cheesiness, but this kind of thing makes me curious.
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Comments

I think about this a lot of the time. The idea of fame appals me but the idea of leaving no trace - at all - is rather painfully humbling. You could spread your DNA about a lot, I suppose, but genes are rather cheaper than memories. The thought that not a soul alive will give a meaningful thought to my splendid Grandad after I'm gone, fills me with sadness.

art, Jul 2, 2011
To me the saddest thing about the thought of my own death is that after I'm gone the party will continue. Films and books will still come out, films and books I might have enjoyed.

Lemex, Jul 2, 2011
@ Art - I reckon that's what we should do, spread our DNA around and breed like Rabbits! Then they'll be like, 'Wasn't our grandad such a great man that he was able to have such a large family and prosper? Being serious though, I would be happy to leave any sort of imprint, make a contribution no matter how small, so that there might even be a small ripple of remembrance. That's sad about your gandad too

@ Lemex - I know we're so selfish that people might enjoy themselves when we're gone. You'd be missing out on all the fun! lol

LaGs, Jul 3, 2011
wow...i just wrote something sort of related to this

but i try not too think about it. and i find i usually think about it when i'm not doing anything, which is my alert sound to get cracking.

very few of us will make changes in the world that will resonate long after we are gone, but that's only a loss to you if you want to be remembered by people who never knew YOU. the people you do know will die soon after you if not before, so your life and all the people connected to you intimately would follow you in death sooner or later.

life seems like it's about keeping busy. when you find something awesome, the times can be good. but, like work, when you're not that into it, you keep looking at the clock. and in terms of life, it's like looking at the clock in a cell on death row.

life comes. life goes. the meaning of that fleeting thing is completely up to the person

mugen shiyo, Jul 3, 2011
@ Lemex - I know we're so selfish that people might enjoy themselves when we're gone. You'd be missing out on all the fun! lol
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I mean that, because I'm dead I'll not be able to enjoy myself.

Lemex, Jul 3, 2011
Lemex;bt12225 said:

I mean that, because I'm dead I'll not be able to enjoy myself.
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Stop worrying about it Lemax and enjoy yourself while you're here. Once you're gone you'll be non the wiser as to what you may be missing.

Trilby, Jul 3, 2011
Because I can..apologies LaGs...here are some telling excerpts from Samuel Johnson's essay, What Have Ye Done ?

This fatal question has disturbed the quiet of many other minds. He that in the latter part of his life too strictly inquires what he has done, can very seldom receive from his own heart such an account as will give him satisfaction...

We do not indeed so often disappoint others as ourselves. We not only think more highly than others of our own abilities, but allow ourselves to form hopes which we never communicate, and please our thoughts with employments which none ever will allot us, and with elevations to which we are never expected to rise; and when our days and years have passed away in common business or common amusements, and we find at last that we have suffered our purposes to sleep till the time of action is past, we are reproached only by our own reflections; neither our friends nor our enemies wonder that we live and die like the rest of mankind; that we live without notice, and die without memorial; they know not what task we had proposed, and, therefore, cannot discern whether it is finished....

He that has improved the virtue, or advanced the happiness of one fellow-creature, he that has ascertained a single moral proposition, or added one useful experiment to natural knowledge, may be contented with his own performance, and, with respect to mortals like himself, may demand, like Augustus, to be dismissed at his departure with applause.
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Samuel Johnson died in 1784.

art, Jul 3, 2011
Thanks for that excerpt Art, it's really insightful

LaGs, Jul 3, 2011