by Denmark Guy | Jul 6, 2021 | How long will you be remembered after you die?
“I remember when my mother died, some years back, I went to a local park and spent several hours there. I sat on a bench and just looked around at world… and was struck by the fact that this HUGE event had just happened: My Mother Died. The only living direct relative of mine had passed away, and I was essentially alone in the world. I have no brothers and sisters, you see, and my parents are both dead. Although I am basically “dad” to three wonderful (now adult) children, they are not mine in the biological sense… they are ultimately my wife’s, through her previous marriage.
Everyone Around You Will be DEAD in 100 Years
Near Snoqualmie Pass, WA
I don’t mean for this to sound like a downer post, but if you look around you where you are right now, odds are that every single person can seefrom wherever you are will be dead, 100 years from now.
Anyway, I sat in that park and watched the world go about its business, and I realized that in spite of the fact that a monumental even was happening to ME, nobody elseknew or cared.
Thinking forward to today, that also made me realize that when I die, pretty much nobody will notice. When I die, the last person with a clear memory of my mother will be gone. Will anyone have a clear memory of me, after I die? After a year? Five years? Ten years?
Then again, does it matter?
Some people are more attached than others to leaving a “legacy” behind for others to remember them by. Me? Not so much. Although it does amuse me — at least on some minimal level — that these words we write here will supposedly be recorded on the blockchain forever.
“Forever” is a long time, mind you.
I don’t know what people will remember. But then again, I never put much effort into doing anything worth “being remembered FOR.”
What Matters… and What Doesn’t
The great thing about us humans is that we are really vastly different.
Bird taking a rest… on a bird
There’s a lot of jargon circulating about how we are “all the same,” but really? Such a range of differentthings matter to us. Including… death.
I don’t think much about death; it’ll come soon enough, and I’m quite content with the idea of “whatever happens” coming as a surprise. And maybe that’s why I’m really more concerned with what happens while I am here than after I am gone.
That was one of the things my mother and I did not share: She pretty much started “planning her death” when she was in her 50’s and then got to spend another 30 years “putting her papers in order.“
It’s funny, after 8 1/2 years, it’s getting harder and harder to remember her. That’s what the human mind does, over time. The daily stuff fades, and only a few highlights remain…”
by Harry S | Jul 6, 2021 | How long will you be remembered after you die?
“One of the things that always surprises me is the desire to be remembered. There are so many people who want to be remembered for something or other so that when they die it will somehow make a difference. Most of these people are just ordinary people and I think it is enough to have lived a full life without imposing their stupidities on future generations. Once you are dead, this life then ends and another may begin. It may be that they are so afraid of what comes after death that is too frightening to contemplate, and in desperation they want to leave a mark of themselves behind.
I think about the palaces and mosques, the fortifications and defences built by great leaders who may themselves have had dreamt of greatness. And we can see their constructions all over central Asia, standing proud and distinct in the otherwise desert like terrain. But who really remembers them and how much do they remember? Even if someone’s name is remembered, what does that really signify?
Really, who cares? Think about other people who are ‘famous’. We know very little about them as people; were they nice people, did they like life, what were their likes and dislikes, what did their children think of them, etc? Even if we can understand them as people, I ask again, who cares?
So, if we don’t care about great people in history, who is going to care about lesser achievers like an actor, the owner of a string of supermarkets, a hockey player, or a politician? In fact, people are hardly remembered when they are alive never mind years after their death. People who try to be remembered are just wasting their time. Instead of trying for material greatness, isn’t it better to just try to become a better person themselves? It must be worth more to just look inside and find out how they can be better whilst they are alive, to live better, help others, and be happy with their life as it is.
So, we are left, in country after country with buildings, beautiful in themselves, that are a minimal reminder that others have been here before. Where are they now; skeletons of empires, scattered in the desert!”
by Victor P | Jul 6, 2021 | How long will you be remembered after you die?
“Realistically, as long as the last person that remembers you will live. In the present day, assuming they’re 10 years old and remember you for the entirety of their lives while having the rough maximum possible lifespan (125 years), the last real memory of you will die in 115 years. If you live for another, say, 70 years, and make an impression on a 10-year-old on your very last day, it could be 185 years.
Think about the big names in history. Conquerors, dictators, artists, inventors, activists. In the case of those that died over a hundred years ago, it’s (almost) safe to say that nobody alive has ever met them in person.
Nobody has shared a beer, a late-night story, a good joke or a hardship with them. Nobody was there to see them fuss over their worries or cower in fear during lower points of their lives. Nobody came to give them the pep talk they needed, mentored them when they needed to grow, or learned great wisdom from the example of their actions.
The impact of their work is well-known, but this builds an idea of a person rather than presenting an authentic person per se.
In some cases, these great historical figures left behind diaries, such as in the case of Marcus Aurelius. They are the closest thing to a retelling of an internal monologue one can have, but even that is a rendition of the man, not the man himself.
With the rate tech is evolving now, future generations should be able to watch present-day content as if no time had passed, allowing for whatever ways you present yourself to survive the passage of time unscathed. But by the same coin as with ancient diaries, I think they fall short of presenting the true person.
Carpe diem, then. Your memory may become an abstract notion – if it survives at all – but the effects of your actions may ripple throughout the years.”
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