Rememberance

[Therin]

This, I think, is something that everyone has thought about at some point or another, but probably refuses to think hard about. I ask the question now.

Will I be remembered when I'm gone? If I am not, was my life worth living?

Discuss.

[Azurel]

^_^ I've had to think about it, considering we've gotten into this argument several times.

Being remembered in history is pointless. I don't think my life's worth would be any different if I were to die and have nobody talk about me aside from family and friends. I'll go through life and I'll enjoy as much of it as possible, and it will be worth it because I know the people around me, my friends, were affected. I made them laugh and that's really all I ever want accomplished. I don't persue going down in history because most of the people there were innately better than most people in some respect (or had serious blunders, which is not a way I'd want to be written down) and I realize that I don't, so it is there pointless to try.

[RivaOni]

i agree with azzy, aslong as yuor family and friends remember you, no one else matters

[Daijaga]

The answer to your first question is no, not really. Its a sad answer, but a realistic one. Do you remember your great grandpa? His wife? You can branch it out indefinatly, but the fact is well all lose our legacies in the vast stretch of time. If your looking into the immediate hundred years, yes of course. Ill mourn you with deserved respect, as Im sure all of PO would if we were all still together here, but regardless Im sure word would spreda very quickly. When we got together wed think about you, have a moment of silence, indeed for any POs that had passed beyond life's grasp, make comments like "Well, Therin woudl have said..." or "Therin sure would have liked this." and so forth. But ill pass, my children will pass, and then were gone, ghost sfrom another time. Its not such a poor fate, its shared by every living thing that ever exsisted. The human spirit wants to believe very stongly that even in death it will have made some lasting impression that would carry his memory into the future, but even thats indefinate, nothing lasts forever so to speak.

To answer to your second question is harder to answer, because theres really no precidence to judge it by. What makes a man's life worth living? Being nice to people? Giving of your time and money? Being devout to a deity or theology? When you ask a question like that you give your life an ending - At point B, the ending point, will my life between there and point A have aded up the the sum of C, C being why I exsist. If you dont equal up to why you exsist, then why did you even live? Trivialities like that can be debated round and round and round, men have torn them selves up, made vast empires, craeted dynasties, lost fortunes, and changed the face of the world just to try to make A -> B = C. In my theology, there isnt a begining and end, you always are. You are born at A, and die at A. Every point of your life between A and A is A. A -> A = A. Theres no purpose, no reason, no end goal, nothing to prove, nothing to live up to, nothing to measure up agaisnt. Im content with that, but thats me.

[Tobias]

well, to answer the first question: I dont know, nor do i care. If i am remembered, i woudl feel honored, but through death, one can only honor their own spirit.

The second question: Life is definitely worth living, even if you arent remembered, since being given this chance to do what we are able to do is great. Even though some people complain that life is horrible for them, its something you only get once, much like time and space. you can only do one thing every moment, and you can never relive that moment. Ever. So just live life to its fullest, and when these questions come up (not to be cold or grotesque) but you just have to say, "Who cares? I am what i am, and that IS all that I am" (Master Sailor, Popeye)

That is all *explodes*

[Shurikane]

It depends on what you intend to do. Some people will not care about history and will die with the satisfaction of a job well done. Others will enter a job where they'll be in the spotlight and inevitably gain some historical fame, and might care or not care. We all have different life goals, and we all have different standard that'll allow us to decide on whether our life was a good one or not.

[KenseiKurisuchan]

Ooooh, you guys should read Ecclesiastes if you're thinking about this stuff.

Ecl. 1:3-11
What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, "Look! This is something new"? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow.

[Silver Adept]

Will you be remembered when you're gone? Yes. I know not by whom, or for how long, but you will be remembered when you pass away. The fact that you have interacted with someone in your lifetime - and strongly enough to leave a memory, will do.

The second question becomes an impossibility, then, because since someone remembers you, you had a life worth living. It may very well have eben that your purpose was to imprint that memory on someone. But as we fade through time into the mists of memory, if we are to have further purpose, for inspiration or for warning, we will be chronicled by those who require memory of us. To fade gracefully into the mists of time may be preferrable, because then it means that the things that you are being remembered for have been accomplished (or destroyed, but more than likely, it will be accomplished).

I would like to be remembered when I die, because I want people to use me an example for improving the world. Once the world has been improved as much as it can through my memory, then it should fade gracefully.

[Graillik Tur]

Man...I don't even know where to begin. I'll start with a story.

My father speaks of his grandfather all the time, how much he loved him. One day my father tells me of the story Great Grandfather Cage digging a cellar for the local methodist church with a bunch of 'colored' folk. When the locals ask my ggf what he thought about "workin wit a buncha niggas?" My ggf just turned to the group and said "all in all, we're all just a bunch of niggers aren't we?" and went back to digging.
I never met this man, but I remember him, and what he stood for. Also, the entire town of VA knows of him, his picture hangs in the church to this day, and pictures of people waiting outside the church because there wasn't enough room at his funeral.

This is what I wanna accomplish, making a lasting dent in everyone I meet, not just those closest to me. Because obviously, because I live in a small town where my name means something, it is best for me to try and live up to it.

2nd question. Always, I argue with Dai on this one because it lacks a fundamental thing instilled in all beings, drive. To not come down on anyone, I agree with Tobs. This instance that Dai calls A, is not A. It is B. A is the energy we come from before getting to what we perceive as reality. I am using this model from Einstein, that states all energy can not be created or destroyed only change form. If that is true, then the instance of life on earth would be a transitionary period in which several energies can interact and make impression on others. And with that in action, your actions can cause great impact on everything. So life must be worth living, otherwise the great mathmatical equation would be flawed, and that isn't possible.

[Ultrawolf]

I'm not very religious. Not religious at all really. I do believe sometimes that certain people are born for certain purposes. They live their lifes, however short they may be, for this purpose. Sometimes it may not be apparent right away.

My older brother passed away when he was in kindergarden from a kidney disorder. I never forgot him, even though our time together was very little. I remember all sorts of random details like how he couldn't say my name so he'd call me Bubba. I know that if he had never died I would not be the person I am today.

Sometimes it's not so much what exactly you do but how it will impact the people around you. If you died Therin I imagine it would have the same affect. Those of us interested in writing would use you as a symbol to motivate ourselves and be a source of inspiration. That may be a bad example of what I'm trying to say. <<

Personally about my own life: I don't see myself accomplishing very much in the future. I do know one thing. I know that I have a natural calling to help people. I love helping people. If nothing else I would love to spend my life talking to people and helping them. I have a feeling of "rightness" like it were my mission in life to do this. I will probably die alone and forgotten but I care little because I fulfilled my purpose in life. Ok I'm rambling ^^ Sorry.