Immortality

How do we want to be remembered, if at all? Being a non-religious person of limited creativity, my mind fails to believe in the common definition of "afterlife". The afterlife to me, is the little pieces of yourself you leave behind in this world, the memories and emotions you imprint onto others. The sad but true fact is, that according to my definition, my afterlife won't survive past my great-grandchildren. Yup, they say that 3 generations is the most your memory will carry for. Is that why so many people seek fame? If not for the power, but then to be remembered past their children's children's sons and daughters? I guess that's why others seek religion, they can't stand the fact that memory will fade, they want to believe that the life they live down here, somehow, will amount to a good life up there. Well, I live the way I do because even though I may not explicitly be remembered by future generations, I want to be implicitly remembered at least through the way they live. I want my great-great-great-grandchildren to grow up being true to themselves and to not do what is popular, but do what they think is right, to test themselves and discover their strengths and weaknesses, to not settle, to use facts in decision making but to also know sometimes it's ok to think with your heart, to appreciate beauty in all its forms, that when it comes to friends, quality, and not quantity, is what matters, be honourable, to suffer short term pain for long term gain, to endure and persevere even when your world is falling apart, that sometimes all we have is our soul, our word, and our faith, to lead by example, that humility is a virtue and not a weakness, that it's ok to strive for and buy nice things as long as the purpose of having them is not to show off, to try not to be ignorant or arrogant, but sometimes the former can't be helped, and if that's the case, definitely do not be the the latter, to do unto others what they would have others do to them. And if someone should ask them why they live their life like that, I want them to answer: "Because that is how I was raised."

"To be remembered forever, that is the secret to immortality." - SunriseSeeker