"Death comes to all, but great achievements raise monuments which shall endure until the sun grows cold." Fabricius.
“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” -- Proverbs 16:18
Ozymandias
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Do
you think about what legacy you will leave after you are gone? Some
people amass wealth, have children, build a business, or do form a
charity to ensure they will leave a legacy for the world. Others
create artistic works, write books, build things, or create handcrafts to pass down.
There is a pretty strong biological urge to have children to pass down
our genetic code. (I am not sure that having kids to leave something
behind after we are gone is really a good reason to have kids though.
But maybe that's for another essay.) At any rate, that urge is so
instinctual it's probably not something we can fight as a species.
I
don't think I am the kind of person who worries about creating a
legacy. When I make crafts and works of art, even my scrapbooks, I
make them for the now, and don't concern myself as much about future
readers. I probably should.
I think the real legacy we
leave after we pass away is in the people who remember us. No one is
ever gone as long as they have a place in your heart and memory.
