Just a thought that crossed my mind today.
If I was to ask everyone that you’ve ever interacted with (IRL) what their general opinion of you is, what do you hope the most common answer would be?
Would you hope they consider you a successful person, physically attractive, smart, the best in your field, etc?
Personally, my answer is “A good, kind person. Friendly and helpful.”
Just wondering what the rest of feel.
EDIT: Based on the first few responses, I’m thinking I should have clarified better.
I’m not talking about your legacy after you’re dead, I just mean right here, right now. You have left an impression on people. That is inevitable. Surely there aren’t that many people that don’t give a fuck what anyone thinks, but I must admit, it is a valid answer. Maybe you are the person who doesn’t give a fuck what anyone thinks. 🤷🏻♂️
Being remembered implies memory carried through time and space. Being remembered implies future humans remembering.
The grand scheme of the cosmos makes it questionable. There’ll be no human being millions of years from now, at least not the humanity that we know of. If humans lasted for the next thousand years, it’ll certainly be a cosmic miracle, because the scientific tendency is a mass extinction event for the foreseeable future (due to factors such as climate change).
We don’t need to try and imagine a foreseeable future. We can look at the past and question ourselves whether it’s possible or not for a person to actually be remembered. Do we know and remember the name of that first person to ever write within language rules, possibly a Sumerian person? Do we know and remember their name, their life, how they looked like, what they ate? What about the first person to ever lit a fire, possibly a hominid? What about the first person to make something that resembled a wheel?
Time’s cruel. I mean, there’s no cruelty as in a human sense, it’s simply a great, ineffable cosmic indifference towards the “order out of chaos” that we call “living beings”. Even when there are memory carriers, people who remember other people, the memories and thoughts they carry will fade into the oblivion of the entropy. It’s how cosmos functions. Order came from the primordial chaos, and to the primordial chaos it must return.
So, how do I want to be remembered? Do I ever want to be? Even if I did want to be remembered, it wouldn’t matter, because all matter and energy will be forgotten amongst the cosmic soup of chaos rearranged by an unstoppable entropy.
That’s deep and all, but I just meant, what are people’s general opinion of you now.
i grew up in a BIG mormon family.
a decade or so ago, a group of 20-ish cousins and i were sitting round the campfire at the reunion. they all discussed among themselves and decided that i am the original black-sheep of the family and they thanked me for being a strong role model for their own journey out of the truly awful mormon religion.
i am very proud of that.
That may be one of the most inspirational stories I’ve heard yet! Proud of you! Fight the power!
I want to be remembered for my so-far meager and obscure contributions to the field of mathematics.
Most likely I’ll be remembered as intelligent, kind and sarcastic by a few friends.
Congratulations! Any contributions to math is impressive to me!
Is it weird that i dont want to be remembered? I just want to fade into nothingness. None of it matters anyway
I hope I am one day a sort of Patronus Charm that my kids can utilize to ward off crippling thoughts.
I want to be remembered as that guy that once threw his socks in the hamper and BOTH went in.
Woah there buddy, let’s be realistic here!
Right now, knowing my public execution won’t be cause for national celebration is a weirdly comforting bit of knowledge.
I have no need to be remembered by anyone. Memories and legacies are fake human constructs that we’ve made up. We live approx 60ish years and then die. Only kids and or some relatives/spouses will remember you for another few decades before they die too and you’re completely forgotten.
To hang onto the idea that you must leave a legacy behind and be remembered by other people just adds unnecessary stress to one’s life. Not a single person cares about anyone except for themselves (save for some people who may care in some manner about their significant others, kids, maybe a best friend).
I refuse your opinion. There might be a time, a place, a random conversation where I’m remembered. I want people to take my name in a good way, not like Hitler.
It’s not illegal to care about others, you will get something back in life if you help others. Build favours.
To be honest, your comment seems like a huge cry for help.
“I don’t want to be remembered, I want to live” (paraphrased)
-CGP Grey
I hope friends will occasionally remember having fun with me and smile.
Like this:
Actually I really like the idea that I will die and join the legions of humans who lived interesting lives and disappeared in the sands of time.
I don’t need people to remember me, personally by name or what I looked like, but I would be happy if others would be positively affected by whatever I manage to accomplish in this life.
The one after Luigi.
Not afraid of death, not afraid of being forgotten, not afraid of some spiritual afterlife or lack thereof.
I spent a long time religious with such a heavy focus on what happens after death, being free of that burden makes it possible to live in the only moment we can ever control in all of eternity, now.
