'What I would like to be remembered for'
I suspect that one would invariably prefer to be ‘disliked’ for what one is or stands for as opposed to being ‘misunderstood’ for what one is not, or worst still being 'ignored'. I’m sure that when the time comes for each of us to shuffle off our mortal coil, we would all like to be remembered favourably by those we leave behind.
Perhaps the most that any of us can realistically hope for is that posterity occasionally recalls that we once existed, and unlike the 'footprints in the sand', we are long remembered even after the tide has come in and gone back out. Like wild horses running through a forest, will they who follow know that we once walked there? Will our hooves have left their print among the broken grass or will the boat we rowed in the still waters of our youth still sail in years to come?
The three most common ways of being remembered are, ‘Who’ we were, ‘What’ we said and did and ‘How’ we expressed it.
Perhaps the most that any of us can realistically hope for is that posterity occasionally recalls that we once existed, and unlike the 'footprints in the sand', we are long remembered even after the tide has come in and gone back out. Like wild horses running through a forest, will they who follow know that we once walked there? Will our hooves have left their print among the broken grass or will the boat we rowed in the still waters of our youth still sail in years to come?
The three most common ways of being remembered are, ‘Who’ we were, ‘What’ we said and did and ‘How’ we expressed it.
‘Who am I?’ is the question that many a person struggles to discover as they approach their mid-years of life and onwards. Often this question is posed to oneself and is wrapped within the fear that life is passing us by. We fear that were we to be knocked down and killed by a bus the next very day, we would have been and gone without any acknowledgement or mark upon the land that we’d ever existed at all!
If a person is a Member of Parliament, then they’d like to leave behind a law or piece of legislation on the statute book which touched and improved the lives of others in the years ahead. Similarly, an Olympic athlete would like to leave behind a gold medal or a world record: a singer, a ‘number one’ song: a musician, a composition that will live on: an artist, a master-piece canvas that sits in the Royal Academy; a poet, a poem that will be read for a thousand years: a sculptor, a statue to occupy the grand streets of the Capital, and any other craftsman or artisan, an incomparable representation of their particular craft. Likewise, the philanthropist would revel in the thought that their name lives on through their endowments and buildings they gave to the wider community, whilst the gardener and grower of flowers might like to have a rose named after them!
What they said or did and how they expressed it is often the focus of the person who wishes to be more than a name upon a gravestone that none hardly ever see and few would even recognise. And yet, to those who are of our blood line, to those grieving loved-ones we leave behind, rest assured that they will never forget us or fail to be proud of what we really stood for and who we truly were. When all the water had been drained from the cooking pot of life, they will be able to recall and know the taste of the stock we offered.
The wider community shall remember us for our most special of talents that we passed on to the world; our eternal love of God, our neighbourly respect, our compassion, honesty of dealings, our charity, generosity of spirit, our sincerity of purpose, along with our unwillingness to hurt, gossip, envy, steal from or covet the persons and property of others.
If we have been remembered kindly, it will be for having been a 'good' person in an often badly behaved world. It will be for having behaved more angelically in a climate of distrust, hurt, selfishness and cruel possessiveness. It will be for having, through example, elicited the natural goodness in others and encouraged the hopeful qualities in all children, besides bringing the sunshine into their lives and the lives of others. It will have been for being able to constantly gaze and marvel at the wonderment of God's creation of heaven and earth.
Our children may even remember the freedom we allowed them, enabling them to healthily develop, make their mistakes and fly the nest when they were ready to do so and to ride their choice of transport to the four corners of the earth in the full knowledge that the family home of Mum and Dad would always be available for them to return to in times of refuge.
If we have been remembered kindly, it will be for having been a 'good' person in an often badly behaved world. It will be for having behaved more angelically in a climate of distrust, hurt, selfishness and cruel possessiveness. It will be for having, through example, elicited the natural goodness in others and encouraged the hopeful qualities in all children, besides bringing the sunshine into their lives and the lives of others. It will have been for being able to constantly gaze and marvel at the wonderment of God's creation of heaven and earth.
Our children may even remember the freedom we allowed them, enabling them to healthily develop, make their mistakes and fly the nest when they were ready to do so and to ride their choice of transport to the four corners of the earth in the full knowledge that the family home of Mum and Dad would always be available for them to return to in times of refuge.
Our loved ones and blood line shall never forget us. How could they when genetics dictate that we shall continue to be a very real part of their lives and the lives of their children, and their children who are born many generations hence?
Every time a family member talks, walks, stands or speaks in an identical manner to the way we used to, our very presence will be displayed for all the world to see, our name shall be evoked and our former existence fondly remembered.
Whether it be creature or human, even the way one looks, smiles or grimaces can be repeated in matching manner, with the particular characteristic being transported across one century to the next. Some even believe that the unborn foetus mimics some of the mother's characteristics while still in the womb!
Every time a family member talks, walks, stands or speaks in an identical manner to the way we used to, our very presence will be displayed for all the world to see, our name shall be evoked and our former existence fondly remembered.
Whether it be creature or human, even the way one looks, smiles or grimaces can be repeated in matching manner, with the particular characteristic being transported across one century to the next. Some even believe that the unborn foetus mimics some of the mother's characteristics while still in the womb!
Whether a creature or human, however distant or close, a relative can grow to resemble in likeness or character a relative they never met, or even a great, great, great, great relative they never knew existed.
So even though one may die, there is never a time when everything about them dies with them. They live on in some form of likeness, mannerism or characteristic; even when they occupy the other side of the green sod. Their religion lives on as does their beliefs and often their opinions that have been unknowingly passed down from one generation to the next, and the one after that!
So even though one may die, there is never a time when everything about them dies with them. They live on in some form of likeness, mannerism or characteristic; even when they occupy the other side of the green sod. Their religion lives on as does their beliefs and often their opinions that have been unknowingly passed down from one generation to the next, and the one after that!
Why, even those among us who believe that all creatures live, die and live again in their reincarnated form of man, bird, beast or insect, know not which cycle of life they presently occupy.
"I know not whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming that I am a man? Who knows? Who has the key to this evolutionary conundrum?"
"I know not whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming that I am a man? Who knows? Who has the key to this evolutionary conundrum?"
So, my dear friend, whatever you are remembered for (as remembered you shall undoubtedly be), remind yourself that no act of kindness you ever gave to others when you lived, no matter how small, was ever wasted or will be forgotten. As the poet Alexander Pope reminds us, do not be the one who breaks the butterfly upon the wheel. Instead, nurture all manner of life upon this earth and treasure the living of it. Consider yourself and others a thing of infinite beauty and you will never be forgotten, for a thing of beauty is a joy forever. Its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.
This is a song I leave behind, in the hope that I am not forgottgen.
https://youtu.be/QyBTmQqCm6E
Amended April, 2018.
This is a song I leave behind, in the hope that I am not forgottgen.
https://youtu.be/QyBTmQqCm6E
Amended April, 2018.
