What will you leave behind?

I was just reading through this thread and saw a post from ~bill.
His words, hopefully, popping up from time to time to remind us he was here... to remind us he always had something good to say.
It left me to wonder.... what will you leave behind? Or better yet, what do you want to leave behind when you pass from this earthly world?
Bill left behind memories we will never forget. He left behind so many holes that needed to be filled, such as the one where I got to know him better.......
But ultimately I guess the choice is yours on what you leave behind right?
What do I want to leave behind? Apart from the memories of those I may have touched in one way or another. I want to leave behind a trace of myself. I truely believe that my art and creations will stay behind me, forever reminding people of what I was and what I could do.
Or how I was a part of their lives.
I want to leave no heartache at my leaving, but some sort of celebration that I had the chance to touch some people in some way. That I had the chance to better things, to better myself. And maybe, had the chance to better others.
We may be insignificant in the grand scheme of life, the way of the galaxy and all that. But I want people to turn and say, as those who knew bill say about him.... Look what he did! Im glad I knew him.
Of course, I'd like to leave a part of me, hoping he or she will grow up to carry on what I have begun, and to wonder what they will leave behind for those to follow......
That's what I'd like to leave behind.

[ 14 August 2002: Message edited by: blufluffybunny ]

Why is it so important that one must leave something behind? Furthermore why is it so important that one leaves a legacy to his or her former self?
If you make a difference, however small, all the better for society in general but why is it so important that you are remembered for it? It strikes me as almost egotistical and of little or no consequence once you're dead.
[ 14 August 2002: Message edited by: Prometheus ]

And that's you Prom.
You obviously want to leave behind nothing.
I, as egotistical as you may think it is, would like to leave something behind.
Maybe to me, having passed, means nothing to me when I am gone. Leaving something behind I guess would be for others or those I leave behind.

i want to leave something behind... have something named after me or something...
or maybe just have a bunch of kids...
right now, i have my name in one place, the school record, for winning cross country in year 7. apart from that i could die tomorow and not have left a mark at all. which is fucking depressing.

I want to make a difference, not on a grand scale, I don't want to be the one to find a cure for cancer, I don't want to be the person who discovers life on another planet, and I don't care if nobody remembers my name in 100 years.
I want to make a difference to people, I want somebody somewhere to say "Without her my life wouldn't have been the same."
There are people who you remember, people who you miss and people that once they are gone leave a gaping hole inside you. It’s not painful it’s just there, a missing piece that acknowledges that the person meant something. I want to be that kind of person.
In my work life I want to be like my 5th Grade teacher Mr Daley, my 6th grade teacher Mrs Ritchie and my 9th grade English teacher Mrs Kirkbride, These people are still impacting my life every day. Words of advice that I will never forget, the attention and belief that instilled in me the desire to succeed. If just one of my students remembers something I said in 50 years time, and whatever I said impacted their life in a positive manner, that's enough.
I want kids, and I hope that they grow up to continue the very best parts of me.
Yes it is extremely egotistical to want to leave something behind. Can anybody honestly say they wouldn’t care if they died tomorrow and nobody even noticed?
I have an intense interest in the past, a desire to know where I came from and who my forbearers were. We were asked not that long ago by my grandmother what we wanted when she passed on, my sisters said the house, the unit etc etc. My interest was in the journals, jewellery and photos. Yes it’s selfish but I’d like to know that somewhere, years from now a piece of me lives on for my great great great whatever grandchild to be able to know me from.

If people remember me I have no doubt that it will be for all the wrong reasons...
I kinda like the idea of just fading into nothing. There are enough people in this world who actually deserve to be remembered.

I once threw a hotdog at an old ladie (by accident), i'm not sure about the rest of the world but i'll never forget that one
pffft - who cares
[ 14 August 2002: Message edited by: tari_aja ]

I want the people I care about when I'm living, to care about me when I go. that's all.

To sum it all up, I'd like the MC at my funeral (Yes, I'm gonna have an MC at my funeral) to end with "Ladies and Gentlemen, that was *insert my name here*"
That, and I'd like to be fired from a cannon into my casket.
I don't care what I leave behind, it's how I go that I want to be remembered by.

I think that if you're overly concerned about the image you're going to leave when you die you're not going to live anywhere near as well as you could otherwise, thus you're going to leave a pretty pathetic image behind.
So in my opinion, I just want the image of me left behind. I think most of my friends know who I am. I think most of my actions in my life speak for themselves, those that don't, are mute for a reason.
Queen Beat : We'll remember you as apollo's sparring partner.
-plaz out-

Once, when I was about 16, my dad, brother and I sat down and got drunk together, the first time just the three of us did so. He left me with words that I will never forget.
The meaning of life.
Live
Love
Learn
Leave a legacy.
Live your life, get the most out of it, do what you can, and sometimes, what you can't
Love someone, something, some idea. Feel true and passionate love at least once in your life.
Learn as much as you can, as often as you can. There is no excuse to your own ignorance. If you want to know something, go and learn it.
Leave a legacy. I think this is what this whole thread is about, what do we want to leave behind. Of course, my dad has left the legacy of two kids, plus he has changed many peoples lives over the years, but most importantly, he has left me the legacy of these words.
This is my philosophy, and it has yet to lead me astray. Even when something fucks up, I can go back and have notched up another score against one of these four L's (usually learning from my mistakes).
So what legacy do I want to leave? I want to have touched peoples lives, have them feel better for having knowing me. I guess that's the spiritual legacy I want to leave. Physically, I want to live forever, seriously. The way I plan to do this is by a) having kids and b) donating all my organs when I die. If everyone I donate organs to does the same, and so on and so forth, then some part of me will live forever.

blufluffybunny:
well said. you started this thread with a well thought out way of explaining what you are feeling.
anfalicious:
I think what your dad told you was very wise and you have eplained yourself well too.
[ 15 August 2002: Message edited by: jermz ]

Like so many of the others on this thread what I hope to leave behind is to have made a difference, to have given more than I have taken, to have had some impact on other people's lives. I was fortunate enough to be able to have nursed my grandmother for 2 months after she had a stroke and before she died (I was the only one with her when she died) and I can truly say that was the best thing I have ever done in my life, far transcending any travel or study/work achievements. Since then my world-view has altered - not that I didn't care about people and relationships before, just that they hold a primacy for me now that they didn't before.
That experience (and advancing age!) has also got me thinking about how we are all part of a continuum - a stream of life that goes back and will exist after we leave (though all our atoms and components will be recycled and "live" on anyway). That in 500 years humanity - as individuals - will still have much the same issues and problems that we have now. People will still grow up and have to learn how to love and lead a "good" life.
Somehow I find all this comforting, and to get back to the topic of the thread, I hope in whatever small way to have had an effect on others. I can think of numerous examples of other people saying or doing things to/for me that have changed me - and often when I talk to them about it later they don't remember it at all. So in an egotistical way I hope to leave some concrete things behind, but perhaps the greatest thing will be small, perhaps unremembered, effects on other people's lives. Kind of like ripples in a pond spreading unexpectedly (or a scifi story I remember reading about how time travellers stepped on a butterfly and completely changed history).

Mmm i think i would be great to be remembered but the truth is that in most cases even if your famous in about 100 years no one is going to remember you.
there are so many things i want to be remembered, but most of them would sound crazy unless they were actually tested, so lets just say major social change, would be nice next to my name.

rather than ask yourself what will you leave behind when you die, maybe a better question is, what good did you leave behind today? what impact did you make? i think the smallest things make the biggest differences, when theyre all added up. and ive found that they are the things most clearest in my memories of the people ive lost.

Pestilence, disease, mayham, and chaos.
Well so far I've built a cream factory and a chocolate factory. But ultimately I just want to leave a heap of good memories and happy times for all the people that have ever met me.

I don't really care what I leave behind... In the long run it makes very little difference...
The best that I can hope is that something I do or say somehow gets remembered and assimilated by a large number of people, so that eventually the world is a better place because of a contribution of mine...
...But there's absolutely no way to know if my actions/words make a change like that, unless its something which is recorded, and I doubt I'd ever achieve the fame necessary (nor do I want to) to accomplish that...
And on a more cynical note, I don't really want to leave anything behind, because this world, or mainly the majority of the people living on it, would just destroy it...

Great responses! As stated, what you choose to leave behind is up to you.
I have just one thing to say to Prometheus though...
EGOTISTICAL? ME?
Hello?
Kettle. This is the pot calling.
YOUR BLACK!

ive got one thing to say
bring on the.........MOD FIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lets see whos wearing the pants, on bluelight!!!!

When I was a kid I was always trying to be the class clown, pissfarting around to make the other kids laugh. Back then it was about gaining the approval of my peers.
As I've grown up now and that's no longer a motivation to make people laugh, it doesn't mean it still isn't a priority. I know how I feel when I'm having a long day and someone can make me smile or laugh. If I can do the same for someone else, then I know that I have made a difference, even if for the shortest moment in someone else's life.
When you apply that to your friends, schoolmates or work colleagues and you multiply that by the number of days you work or are around them, that adds up to a lot of joy. If over the course of an entire lifetime you can honestly say that you've brought more happiness into the lives of those around you then sadness or misery, than I think you've done okay.
:D