Have you ever sat alone at night
wondering how you will be remembered after you’re gone? I myself have sat in
bed late at night just thinking about how people will speak of me after my time
on this earth has run out. Some day we will all turn into thoughts and no
longer human bodies in this world we know and love. To some it may be scary to
think about the fact that before we know it our short time here will be over
and we will be moving on to God knows what, a heaven that we have yet to
encounter and a heaven that we can only try to imagine but not know if our
dreams of heaven are real. But not to me.
To me, it is a very long time to
do something significant here. Yes our physical lives here may only last from
80 to 100 years, but the lasting effects of our lives could live on as long as
mankind does. Our significance cannot even be fully measured or realized in our
lifetime because we do not know the effect that it will have on the future
after we have moved on. Think of those who fought for rights for African
Americans, but did not even live to see those rights fulfilled. They were not
sure whether or not the rights would be met during their lifetime or not and
they still fought for these rights because they believed in it. Little did they
know that people would remember them for generations and would look at them as
heroes.
I find it amazing that the things
that I do in my life may be remembered by people who have yet to be born. The
decisions that I make now can and will affect my children’s lives and likely their
children’s lives as well. When you do things you can’t just simply think of
yourself and what the benefits will be for you. You should instead think of how
this will benefit people in the future. In a way our short time on this earth
is insignificant. When you think about how long this planet and mankind have
been around you realize that your time is very short in the grand scheme of
things. But also in a way our time here is very important. We are the people
who will pave the way for the future and that is very significant.
The important thing about your
actions in life is not to do something amazing in your lifetime for yourself
that people may or may not remember. The important thing is to do something in
your lifetime that you will be remembered for because of its lasting effect on
the future of mankind. I’ve heard it said that it doesn’t matter how much time
you have, it matters how you spend the time that you have.
When it comes down to it, our
time here is very limited. We must strive to make use of this limited time
because it is all we have. People always say to try to live in the present as
much as possible, and you should do that. But you can’t just live in the
present without thinking about the lasting effect that you will have on your
future and the future of other people. So what will you be remembered for? You don’t
necessarily have to do something great in the eyes of everyone to be
remembered; you just have to do something great in the eyes of the people that
matter. Live your life with the future in mind, your future and the future of
your children and your children’s children, but continue to live in the present
with it in mind. Life is too short for you not to take full advantage of it for yourself and for others.
Live it up.
-Eric Proulx
