Often times people are not exactly remembered for who they are, but more of what they did in life. In sports it is often said how people only remember how you finished. Nobody will remember you for leading the race halfway through only to finish in second place. Take the 2007-2008 NFL team the New England Patriots. They went 16-0 in the regular season and then two more wins in the playoffs to make it to the big show, the Superbowl. They make it all the way to the Superbowl only to lose to the New York Giants. With this fresh in our mind we know how the Patriots came so close to being undefeated, but lost it in the end. In ten or twenty years when people think of Superbowl Bowl XLII they will remember how the Giants won it and beat the Patriots, not how the Patriots almost went undefeated.
This same though process of making sure you are remembered for what you have done is very similar to an episode of the cartoon Futurama. In the episode, A Pharaoh to Remember, Bender wants to be remembered forever for his leadership.
He forces his slaves to build a massive statue of him to serve as a tribute to his fame, but in the end they destroy it and try to kill Bender. Bender realized that unless there was something big he did nobody may remember him, and sadly that is true in real life. Often times unless you have done something great or left behind something amazing of you behind the whole world won't remember you. Your family will always remember you and have pictures and memories, but aside from that this society looks for specifics to be remembered by.
He forces his slaves to build a massive statue of him to serve as a tribute to his fame, but in the end they destroy it and try to kill Bender. Bender realized that unless there was something big he did nobody may remember him, and sadly that is true in real life. Often times unless you have done something great or left behind something amazing of you behind the whole world won't remember you. Your family will always remember you and have pictures and memories, but aside from that this society looks for specifics to be remembered by.
12 comments:
great reference i love futurerama but i dont think i've seen that episode and i agree the only way for you to be reconized in society is if you were famous and if you're not famous no one really cares about you unless you impacted someones life and then with you in their life they could change
one of my favorite quotes of all time:
"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. So come and stay awhile, and leave footprints on our hearts and we are never, ever, the same."
i don't think it is important for the whole world to remember me.
but i will say if you were to make a difference in someone's life - then you will be remembered for that one thing - and even if only by that one person - you did make a difference.
i know for me - i owe my life to someone (for their privacy i will not write the name) - but my LIFE. i will remember her for the rest of my life - as she did make a HUGE difference in mine.
to me it doesn't matter how you finish and how everyone sees you. all that matters is that you see yourself for doing something important and that you are content.
When I begin to think of Society and what mark i will leave on it certain thoughts come to mind that most people would not consider when leaving their mark. It may seem a little selfish but when I am laying in my death bed I will probably not be thinking of what mark I left on Society but the mark society left on me. I may not be able to say that I left my mark but I am sure that society leaves its mark on everyone including myself. PS. this is Abe N. incase u were wondering
I agree with both of you I did care when I was younger I wanted to be remembered if something happened or I wanted to be known but now I could care less as long as I live my life to the fullest and am happy why does it remember if society really remembers you? As long as you believe you did something that has helped society thats all that really matters
In the drama club, we have a tradition where the seniors spray paint their names on the walls backstage. It's just a way to be remembered, and it's pretty much the same concept. Once you're out of high school, your name is still there on the walls. It's nice to be remembered, and I'll be signing my name there this spring. There's nothing wrong with wanting to be timeless. Every once in a while, everyone wants to feel important.
The way I see it, if a person or society is meant to be remembered for something that they did, it will be significant enough to be timeless. Everyone knows the ancient Greeks and Egyptians, etc.
Unfortunately that is how it is now. Barely anyone now is remembered for the nice or good things they did, but for what the evil things others have done. I only wish that people could forget the evil things that happen and remember the good.
I think its good to remember for something you did but it all depends on how you're remembered or what you did to be remembered I remember a lot of people in my life some still alive some not and those people have impacted my life a lot I dont know where I would be today if I have never met some of those people we need to all stop thinking of ourselves and stop thinking of ways we can be remembered and start doing things to make our world a better place and thats how we'll end up being remembered because we'll probably ending up impacting someones elses life too
I agree that the only way to be remembered is to leave a mark on society or your given specialty (career, sport, etc.) Personally I think this is unfair. I am always interested in the way they got there. If they contributed something great to the world, but stole the idea, I would not want to remember them. But that other person that does the work DOES deserve to be honored.
Also, I always recognize the great feat the Patriots accomplished last year, even though I am a Dolphins fan and never wanted them to take the title. I should be the first to point out their eventual defeat, but they gained my respect with their overall dominant performance.
That is the we are...we want results...and i think we should demand success. Why do I want my team to loose, even if they did win all those games before. If you work really hard on a test put all your effort and get a bad grade...you are much angrier than if you blew off a test and got a good grade.
I completely agree with this statement. Whenever I see a story about how someone overcame the odds to make it to where they are today, it inspires me. However then I think about all the other millions of people who have done the exact same thing these people have, only they dont exist in the spotlight. What recognition do these people get for their work? Nothing. Sometimes I wish the average Joe got as much attention as your typical superstar wide receiver or movie director. This is why my favorite writer of all time is Rick Reilly. He uses his status as a well known journalist (at least in the sports world anyway) to bring the stories of all the average joe's out there public. He has made me want to be a journalist.
It all depends on how you define being remembered. If you mean the whole world knowing who you are and what you have done, then yes only a select few are part of that catagory. I like the idea that being remembered doesn't mean that the whole world recognizes you. As long as one person remembers you for something, even if it was something small to you, you will be remembered. Maybe you have a friend that is always there for you and without this person your life would have been drastically different. Maybe your friend won't be recognized by the world as the glorious leader of tomorrow, but that doesn't mean that he/she won't be remembered. Its all a matter of perspective.
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