This started as an obituary idea...and wandered away.
Throughout my life, I've often wondered about the importance of each man or woman's legacy, what we leave behind in the minds and heart's of those we loved, and what mark what we have done might have on society as a whole. I will not pretend that every life is created equally- very few are allotted the proper time to create lasting effects on a large scale, and even fewer truly change the lives of those distant from them, or improve the environment the majority of humans exist in. It can be said that with the exception of those privileged few, the legacy of each person dies with the last to truly know them well.
This is a truly bleak concept, to believe that everything we struggled to achieve in our lives will be buried with the last remains of our family and friends. I could not argue against the aforementioned point, and know one hundred percent that I was right, but I believe in my heart of hearts that our legacy transcends those we knew personally through a shock wave effect.
Every action performed from one human to another has an effect on those involved, and the lives of those involved have been changed, no matter how mundane. The changes realized from just that one action then spider out into everyone who knows these people, and eventually the effect of that single action reaches generally everyone. Everything we do truly changes the world, just not on a large enough level to gain notice. This does not mean everything we do has a positive effect, and that is also an important piece of what we leave behind.
In all of this, I tend to remember the hurtful things I have done more so than anything that enriched the lives of those I knew, but the odd thing is, what I want to be remembered for has very little bearing on what my actually legacy is. These people I have spoken of so much during this will be the ones responsible for determining what exactly I was worth as a man, and a person. I have thought my effect has be quite awful as of late, but only time will tell if I am correct. All men and women are not given equal time to create their legacies, so maybe we'll all find out what the others are worth sooner rather than later.
This is a truly bleak concept, to believe that everything we struggled to achieve in our lives will be buried with the last remains of our family and friends. I could not argue against the aforementioned point, and know one hundred percent that I was right, but I believe in my heart of hearts that our legacy transcends those we knew personally through a shock wave effect.
Every action performed from one human to another has an effect on those involved, and the lives of those involved have been changed, no matter how mundane. The changes realized from just that one action then spider out into everyone who knows these people, and eventually the effect of that single action reaches generally everyone. Everything we do truly changes the world, just not on a large enough level to gain notice. This does not mean everything we do has a positive effect, and that is also an important piece of what we leave behind.
In all of this, I tend to remember the hurtful things I have done more so than anything that enriched the lives of those I knew, but the odd thing is, what I want to be remembered for has very little bearing on what my actually legacy is. These people I have spoken of so much during this will be the ones responsible for determining what exactly I was worth as a man, and a person. I have thought my effect has be quite awful as of late, but only time will tell if I am correct. All men and women are not given equal time to create their legacies, so maybe we'll all find out what the others are worth sooner rather than later.