“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!”