I have noticed that a lot of powerful people in history and in the present day are passionate, if not obssessed with leaving a great legacy behind. They want to be remembered for their great acts, for their works, for their accomplishments. They want their names to be written in books, for people to create a following around what they did, and most importantly, what they left behind.
I have always had a hard time understanding this obsession. Yes, I agree that one must make the best with what they have– we must pursue and create and accomplish things that define our lives through our works; that will establish our identities in this world. Most importantly, we must thoroughly enjoy what we are doing, we must be passionate about it, we must breathe it and live it. In my opinion, that is the only way to have a meaningful life. We must also make sure to leave behind something good for our loved ones; great lessons, important memories, a way to remember us for who we were and what we loved. Those should be the most important things that a human being should be striving toward.
However, being obssesed with what the world thinks of us after we are long gone, wanting to have statues built in our names and our pictures placed in important publications… being remembered as one of the greats of all time and being adored by millions after our physical bodies have long rotten, seems kind of silly to me. Once I die and my body begins the process of fertilizing the soil, whatever opinion the world has of me (if they even know my name or what I did) has no significance to the corpse that I will become. It will make no difference in my memory if I am remembered positively or not. It makes no difference whatsoever if people look at my legacy and want to follow my steps. It doesnt matter if those that knew of me think I was deserving of praise or worthy of immense criticism.
Dont get me wrong, I understand that a person’s reputation is important, especially to that person’s children. It is important to set a good example for others, and to inspire as many people as we can with our actions. But to put so much focus on how we will be remembered from a primarily egotistical position is not only useless, it is pretty grotesque.
And, at the end of the day, history rewrites itself all the time, and only those that are alive will be able to choose how they see your legacy. Whether accurate or not, they will make with your name as they see fit.
For that reason, concern yourself with your accomplishments while you are breathing air, and after that, may you have been able to reach the mountains of death completley satisified. That will be more than enough.