Lasting impression
I was reading all the posts on funeral arrangements and last wishes. I wonder how much of an impact do we leave behind. After all the dust settles, what will be remembered of us?
And so my thoughts went to a lonely man in our local union, Edmund. He didn’t seem to mingle much with anyone. He did what he was told and never complained. To an employer, he was probably a model employee. But socially he was absent in a working environment. He seemed wise, or is it that being quiet is considered wise, I’m not really sure. I still remember his last day of work; he was walking by our shop, lunchcan in hand, pushed the exit door and I never saw him again.
Why has this stuck in my mind? I was around 35 years old then.
In reality most of us leave very little impression on the world beyond our immediate family and friends. Even then the effect is limited.
I suspect we all have someone who sticks in our minds like that and often we have no idea why.
For me, the less of a footprint I leave behind the better.
Wonder why you do remember Edmund Way………maybe because he was quiet and unassuming, never questioned anything and went about his work in his own little world, so by the very nature of his own inconspicuousness he stood out from the rest…….just a theory, probs way of the mark….. I had a conversation three weeks ago with my brother in law, then he dies suddenly, he was saying its what you leave behind that matters….but does it, would hate for my family to have a long grieving period for me, remember me now and again as I do my late parents………but most importantly I tell them get on with your lives, try and do and see as much as you can……..life is so short………it’s gone in the blink of an eye………
David I ask myself every day “what is life all about?” – “why are we here?” I have lost grandparents, parents, friends, and to be quite honest, we grieve for awhile and then get on with our lives. What have they left behind – children, grandchildren etc. and from time-to-time one remembers “Gran said that, or “Mum did that” , but with time it all diminishes with our demise. What I do regret is that I didn’t ask enough questions of about how, for instance, who was mum’s first boyfriend, what was she like at school, etc. All things now I wish I had known, as I really didn’t know my parents very well. But then again this information would die with me or my children if I had passed it on. Once again – “What is it all about?” Who do some have wonderful lives, and others suffer terrible lives?” “Have we been here before?” It goes on and on…………
Just a side note; I have watched Person Of Interest for 5 seasons. The last season finale was this week. I had it recorded but only thought of it last night as I was browsing through my wife’s enormous soaps and reality shoes recorded.
All this to cite an excerpt from that last episode:
The setting, two cops at a bar after a long shift.
The young jaded cop said, “Everyone dies alone.” His veteran partner added, “Sure, everyone dies alone. But if you mean something to someone, if you help someone, or love someone, if even a single person remembers you, then maybe you never really die at all.”
Anyway, anybody else like/dislike the series? I thought it was so close to what’s happening in the world as far as surveillance. Not just governments but businesses with air miles plans, reward points of any kind, your browsing history, and the list could go on…
Meant ‘reality shows’, not shoes.
I was pretty much that way. Work was work and homelife was homelife. Never the two intermingled. I worked to support my home. My day actually started the moment I left work.
I noticed that there was another type of person at work. Their life started the moment they entered the office. It ended with they left the office.