Your Legacy, among other things

Legacy: An item or memory from the past.

I had never really known my great-uncle. He passed away when I was only a few years old. Over the years I've heard stories of who he was and what he had achieved in his life; from growing up in a large ranching family, to dedicating the last years of his life to achieving a life long dream as well as standing up to something he believed to be wrong and making a positive impact on the people around him.

Most of these stories I had simply dismissed as the talk of old men reminiscing on their earlier years, but now that I really think back on who this man was, I've learned that he was someone who overcame great obstacles purely to make the world around him a better place for those who superseded him.

My great-uncle's name was Rollin. Rollin developed Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gherig's disease in his twenties. The doctors told him he wouldn't live past thirty years old. Even with today's medicine the survival rate for living for at least 20 years with ALS is only 5%. However, Rollin managed to fight through the disease, and in his mid 60's decided to pursue a life long dream of graduating from law school. He attended Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. He indeed graduated. After obtaining his degree he went on to organize a political attack on a local Greyhound racing track which had been abusing and even executing it's animals for years. The last achievement Rollin is remembered for before his death was being the one to shut down this track.

Is this not a man who deserves to be remembered for his actions? He doesn't have a book written in his name, he doesn't have a documentary portraying his life, but he has a community of thankful people, and a proud family and friends to remember him by.

This story brings me to my point of this thread. There are individuals who achieve greatness in many different fields. If we look at society today and try to imagine what will be remembered 50 to 100 years from now, how important will Mark Zuckerburg will be to the progression of our generation and planet as a whole? Will people 100 years from now really remember what Facebook was, let alone the name of the man who invented it? Imagine apps as petty as angry birds and words with friends, these creators have produced ideas that have made them hundreds of millions, if not billions in income, which is enough motivation for most of us, myself included, to really not care about the idea of being remembered by future generations for our achievements.

On the other side of the spectrum, look at people such as J.R.R Tolkein. Do you think he would have imagined his books still being produced into movies even 40 years after his death? There are of course the extreme examples such as Martin Luther King Jr. who will always be remembered for how he impacted the human race, but he also paid for his legacy with his life.

So my question to you; is it more important to you to be remembered for what you've done in this lifetime to improve the world as we know it, although there may be sacrifice involved, Whether it may be a small on or a life changing sacrifice?

Or do you find it sufficient to live life in pursuit of money and self happiness?



I don't mean for this question to be judging, it's just something that I've thought about quite a bit recently. And in making a sacrifice I don't mean something extreme, it could be as simple as sacrificing a small amount of your time to make someone's day just a little bit better.

I'm sorry if this post doesn't make complete sense in some places or that I've rambled on a bit about certain topics, it's pretty late and my thoughts may not be portrayed as I mean for them to be, I just felt like talking a little about this!

Thanks, as always, for reading!


-------
TL;DR: At the end of your lifetime do you want to be remembered for your accomplishments, or are you satisfied living a wealthy, possibly happy life, but without leaving behind a legacy.

 

Perhaps you should place a TL;DR at the top or bottom of your post; a lot of people will just skip what you wrote entirely because it's so long.

Truthfully it depends only on what you find important in life. I hold what appears to be a surprisingly unusual view among my peers that knowledge is the most valuable asset we as a race can aspire to have. Money is very "here and now" in most cases, but the continual accumulation of knowledge is mayhaps the biggest reason why the human race has come so far in such a short period of time (look at the inventions of the past century. I grew up only just as the internet was becoming something properly tangible for example).

If I am to have a legacy, which isn't really something I actually care to think too much about, it will be in knowledge. My current goal is to graduate university, gain some field experience in engineering work but eventually come back to university and get a PhD and pursue research as a career.

To me research is fascinating both in the sciences and in engineering (and they usually mingle with each other frequently) and the opportunity to work on things that most other people around the world have absolutely no idea about is quite exciting.

---
TL;DR: my legacy will be my work.

 

Yeah I kinda expected that to happen a bit, what exactly do you mean about placing tldr at the top or bottom?

I completely agree, as I've grew older I've really learned to value knowledge and the opportunity to obtain it.

And I appreciate you taking your time to at least partly read this!

 

TL;DR is short for "Too Long; Didn't Read". It is basically a way of summarising what you have said, for people who are lazy. I actually did read your entire post though.

Edit: coincidentally I actually own two adopted / rescued greyhounds as pets, so I know how cruel the racing industry can be. Did you know that some dodgy vets actually keep greyhounds as blood factories because their blood is considered quite pure? One of my dogs was actually kept in a vet cage, starved and used for blood transfusions for a number of months before we got her.

 

I really appreciate you actually taking the time to read what I've written! And I didn't know that about vets, that's another one of those behind-the-scenes crimes that either not many people are aware of or most people simply won't do anything about it. I'm glad you could relate to the story, however I'm sorry it had to be under those circumstances.

PS. I've added a TL;DR At the end, Thanks for the advice =P