I recently started re-watching the Ironman movies with Robert Downey Jr. (who by the way is awesome in real life). The second movie began with Tony Stark giving a cocky pep-talk speech at his own personal World Fair of Stark Enterprises. Somewhere later on, the villain says something to the effect of “the way to destroy a man is not to kill him, but to destroy his legacy”.
A legacy is what one leaves behind for future generations. It is not necessarily what defines you, but it is that with which you are known or remembered. We concede the inevitability of death. Sooner or later we all will die. It begs the question, why are we here? What is our purpose? Now some may never ask this of themselves. Or they may give it a passing thought before plowing forward in the fight for survival. Despite these outliers, I suspect most people reach a point where they wrestle with the “why”. People will conjure any sort of reason for their existence. Some may even lie to themselves. Still, each person, each being, each soul leaves its mark on the world in some way*. Some struggle to leave a more distinct imprint. Some wish to be remembered for doing something useful for society. Some want to be part of something bigger. The truth is, we all want to have some kind of legacy. If nothing else, our legacy is our children. They will remain after we pass away. Without this flow, mankind would cease to exist. We search for something that will last; we crave for something that is eternal.
There.
*Believe this. It allows one to see good in humans. It is something I did not come to realize until this ripe age of 29, and it is something I need to remind myself of constantly so that I do not forget that each person is precious, that life is precious, and that no person is worthy of being dismissed. It reminds me that when I see a car accident, instead of thinking about how late I will be to work, I should rather hope that there were no major injuries and that no one is hurt.