What are we but the totality of our shared experiences, feelings, and emotions?
As I wander deeper into the unassailable dredges of advanced age and the vicissitudes encountered in the descending slog that always accompanies the inevitable isolation and penitence it begets, I find myself troubled by a notion I have acknowledged along the way.
I often think about my life, the person I have become, and whatever legacy I might leave behind.
I contemplate my mortality, and I think about how my life will be viewed and recognized, its meaning and purpose, and in what manner family members, friends, and associates might remember me.
Intrinsically, every living person excels or shines to some degree. “We are all good at something in some capability or capacity,” Clinical Psychologist Doctor Brett McCabe describes it.
Whatever distinctive talent, skill, or achievement we have acquired or developed, we do it as well or more noteworthy than anyone we know or associate with.
For better or worse, this becomes our gift, talent, and badge of honor we wear and recognized for the singular or multi-purposed ability we are known for, celebrated for, and thought of, whatever that capability, gift, or aptitude it is, no matter how trivial or inconsequential that memoir is.
We all have memories to share and stories to tell.
However, the obstacles we all confront, I believe, regardless of notoriety attained or accolades achieved in this life, is one cannot understand and appreciate oneself or value the purpose of our existence unless one can identify and come to terms with the personal story and individuality that contributed to our collective interpretations of our past.
Someone helped us, pushed us, or influenced us along the way, and without remembering those people or events that shaped our destiny, we have lost the history that made us who we are.
Suppose you cannot determine or recall this genetic makeup from an intimate reflection of your temperament and character.
In that case, you may struggle throughout life, and your journey could lack meaning, clarity, dignity, purpose, and worth.
Your passage may also contain pain, misery, heartache, and moments of despair, while our path could be complex, problematical, and challenging.
We all seek personal validation and to be remembered and appreciated, regardless of how trivial or inconsequential that memoir is.
For this reason, as I approach the twilight of my mortal lifespan and watch more and more family and friends succumb to the inevitable ravages of time, I have come to believe a person’s purpose and the most meaningful goal we can aspire to as we hobble through this earthly and fragile existence is to live, learn, grow, love, care for, and respect our fellow travelers.
At the same time, we should strive to achieve the most committed and purposeful way of life we possibly can, given whatever station we may occupy in society, the place we all hold in our community of family and friends, and the resolve we exemplify in the social-economic structure of nature.
When we perish from this earthly existence, all the stories, talents, feelings, and memories collected from this human encounter are gone, too.
Every single one of the talents, personal narratives, sagas, fables, yarns, trials, ordeals, misfortunes, and all of our remembrances we collected through our years terminate with our demise, never to be re-claimed, recovered, or salvaged, and that is the profound tragedy of this existence.
Our time on this planet is finite and a non-renewable resource, and tomorrow is not guaranteed.
This irrefutable rationale is our undeniable destiny, and we will all die and cease to exist,
Therefore, as we approach the culmination of our lives, I believe as we grow older, develop, and trek along the many paths of discovery and understanding we encounter daily, all the callings, passions, desires, and purposes we enjoy and live through, during our formative years should now transform, I believe, from a quest of engagement and observation of those many experiences and occasions that have made us who we are, and start to gather, organize, and to uncover those events.
Chronicling the many interactions, histories, narratives, anecdotes, emotions, and beliefs we have amassed over a lifetime of acquisition, however notable or relevant, for whatever reason or motivation, is the only inheritance we can leave for posterity and the future generations that may follow in our footsteps, no matter how hefty, or faint those footprints may be.
We must write it down and record it somewhere, on anything we can, whether a journal, notebook, computer, or posit.
This effort should be a solemn obligation and responsibility that should never be dismissed, neglected, or forgotten, regardless of the time, industry, sacrifice, platform, process, or method required.
Someone, somewhere, and someday will appreciate that labor.
The gratitude of persevering, protecting, and recording our individual stories and memories is the only tribute we can bequeath to others when we pass from this existence.
This modest but noble endeavor validates our legacy, gives meaning and purpose to our lives, and will be the most valuable and cherished commitment we can entrust, endow, and leave behind to family, friends, and the eras that have passed.
