Mortality and our fleeting legacy

Gosh Pol, love that cartoon..really cool...
 
I certainly like your bands version of It's a Man's (Man's) World. That really is some soulful drumming.

Thanks MZ! I was happy with most of the take, tho the snare tuning could have been tightened up.


As far as the whole philosophy thing, I'm not going to try to say something meaningful because I'll probably just say something stupid.

Remaining quiet for fear of saying something stupid? Bzzzzp. Error. Does-Not-Compute. :)


To me, life is all about living a life worth living. I'm not going to spend my life being miserable just so that i can live another 20 miserable years. I just hope I am remembered as a good person and a good drummer. That's all I care about.

That all sounds entirely sane to me. The idea of being remembered was once on my radar - I was very influenced by Mum, who was acutely conscious of her legacy. In recent years I've become relaxed with what Abe referred to as "dust to dust". I just want things to be good "now" for as long as there is a "now",


Gosh Pol, love that cartoon..really cool...

It's brain-bending, isn't it? The universe is expanding and, as it expands, it creates time and space where there was none. #3 is what was around before the big bang. Imagine the state right on the edge of the universe as it's pushing outwards ...

Futurama had an episode where they visited the edge of the universe and they saw themselves in the universe next to theirs looking back, waving. Bender was angry because the other Bender was wearing a cowboy hat :)
 
My father is 83 and nearing the end due to failing health. For the past 40+ years he has been logging daily into a dairy. I'm wondering if I will read some of his writings when he has passed. A few years ago I was visiting him and came upon his diary for 1984. I read what he wrote on the day I moved out of the house, when I took my first job in another state after graduating college. I was in tears as I read the emotion he put into his words. I imagine there will be many more tears if I read through some of the other diaries.

A few years ago I took old 8mm home movie footage that my grandfather had taken from the 1950s-1970s, and converted them to VHS. I gave each of my brothers and my parents a copy of the tape for Christmas that year. This had footage, mostly of the holidays as each of us grew up from babies to teenagers. I got really choked up when I was making this video tape.

I'm not a person who cries too often. Last time I can remember crying was 6 years ago when my mom died. But certain things and memories can get to me.

I really haven't thought much about the legacy I'll leave behind to my family. I know that the time we've spent together over the years is really important, because people cherish those memories. As far as tangibles, I'm not really sure. I've got a lot of hobbies, so my family is going to have to do something with those things after I pass. I tend to think like Larry in terms of leaving little crumbs behind.
 
Funny thing. We think we have something to say but it's all very temporary and, ultimately, it doesn't matter.

Sounds like a bit of absurdism here. Although our actions are mostly meaningless in the grand scheme of things, we very much affect the people with whom we interact. I think this, rather than worrying about what's left after we're gone, should be our motive to live life to the fullest.
 
we very much affect the people with whom we interact. I think this, rather than worrying about what's left after we're gone, should be our motive to live life to the fullest.

ask Steven Tyler about that.....
 
Sounds like a bit of absurdism here. Although our actions are mostly meaningless in the grand scheme of things, we very much affect the people with whom we interact. I think this, rather than worrying about what's left after we're gone, should be our motive to live life to the fullest.

You didn't include the rest of the quote. The full quote was:

Funny thing. We think we have something to say but it's all very temporary and, ultimately, it doesn't matter.

I don't mean for this to be heavy, just that I had such a strong sense of this while going through the anthologies. As Yesdog's sig says "It's all about fun people!"

It seems that you're advising that I should take an approach that I'm already taking ...?

Back in 2000 I had what I call "My Cosmic Experience". After it happened I boiled down the meaning of life to having fun and making yourself useful.
 
It seems that you're advising that I should take an approach that I'm already taking ...?

Back in 2000 I had what I call "My Cosmic Experience". After it happened I boiled down the meaning of life to having fun and making yourself useful.

Oh, well that's good! I didn't realize you already had this mindset. I just didn't get that feeling from reading your post.
 
Pol
interesting time to be raising this, given where I'm at. At one point I pursued a research career, worked crazy hours, published papers, travelled the world presenting my work, got an entry in Who's Who In the World. I thought I was the man.
Then I realised my marriage had drifted on and beyond, ditto for the many friends I used to hang with and my music (didn't touch my drums in 10 years). No doubt my work contributed to our current knowledge and in a way has been immortalised...but I came out the other side a decidedly poorer person. That was my wake up moment.
I changed careers got back into music and found myself married again to someone pretty darned special. Funny enough, none of this is getting as much attention as my earlier career, but it's a meaningful job that makes a difference to public health, I'm loving the music I'm making again and my wife and I have just moved to a farm. Sitting on the porch, watching the sun set and our animals and the wildlife is tremendously satisfying. We are aiming to be completely self sufficient and reduce our footprint on this planet - as others have said, leave it the way we found it.
 
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