What do you think you’ll leave for your family or loved ones when you’re gone?
Will you leave a significant amount of wealth? things? debt? What is it?
Since some of the closest ones to me have passed away these past three months, the things they leave for me has been something I’ve been pondering on. One left me with almost nothing but a few pieces of clothes, another left me with significant assets. One leaves me with good memories, another is a distant memory and no attachment to it. But, what I am trying to say is that, the things they leave behind almost shows the kind of life they’ve lived.
As much as with modern medical advancement, death can be predicted even pre-planned but for a lot of us, it remains a mystery. We can drop dead as we sleep, as we walk, or just going to the bathroom. That unpredictable part of life often slips away from our mind until times like I’ve just experienced come approaching. Then, sometimes it makes you question what happened after you die.
Memories & things....
For some younger generations, the future can seem very bleak; the news about looming ww3, natural disaster and destabilization of a country . All these changed the way we also accumulate assets and/or things. Some decided to live in for the moment, some decided that it’s still best to hold on to something even when things are looking bleak.
My experiences have opened my eyes that I would rather be a person like my grandparents. They both left good memories and the things that help us in life especially in this economy. They were very fair towards everything that they owned and even when they passed, none of us were fighting for anything. We simply know which one belongs to us and which isn’t. They did not even leave us any single debt that can not be paid. My grandpa made sure that we have enough assets to cover everything and that we still own something significant after it. That is something I am striving for, living my life a lot more responsibly.
But... What happens after we die?
The recent deaths open my eyes up about how much clutter we have throughout our entire life. These days, a lot of us buy things just because they are on sale and more often buy things mindlessly without thinking its value and quality. We buy things because they are on trend and cheap. We get carried away because of fear of missing out. We aren’t pleasing ourselves but striving to please others and receive validation from them. But what happens after we die?
When I was looking through my grandma’s collection, she had these neatly arranged clothes and possessions. Throughout her life, she only kept a few clothes but they were all of high quality and timeless. She doesn’t purchase clothes thoughtlessly and only does once/twice a year but they were all expensive. We recently opened up her fabric collection and they were more expensive than my laptop or phone could have ever been. Even today, all of her capsule collection still has value and even when those are decided to be a hands me down to my cousin and I, they were still in a good condition and fashionable. Most importantly, from her, I learned that having a valuable quality piece is a lot better than cheaply made things. She made me reflect on my purchases that were mostly based on pricing rather than quality.
And if I were to leave something behind, I would want that the things I leave, could have a value to the people that were going to inherit my things. Something that they could remember and associate with me.
Not leaving anything, is there such a thing?
With my biological dad, he doesn’t really leave us anything materialistically. The only thing I managed to keep was this oversized Lacoste shirt. My younger siblings took his phone and that was all there was. We don’t seem to have any good memories during the times we interacted but his possession was so little that there’s almost nothing you can get. He wasn’t the saver type and spent his retirement fortune on some experiences that only he and his new wife experienced. He chooses to live that way. But I can’t lie that if he was more responsible with his fortune, we wouldn’t struggle when he was sick. But at least, he’s not leaving a lot of trash. His life, though, was full of lessons. He leaves me so many lessons that I wouldn’t do in my lifetime and taught me the idea of regret. So, technically he still left us something.
I heard a similar tone with highly successful people who said their kids wouldn’t inherit anything they work for. Their reason was to teach the value of hard work. I think there are other ways to teach children about the value of hard work and being grateful about what we have. So, it’s why I am fairly opposed to the idea of not leaving material things to the children or the next generation family. Culturally, where I am from, death and living are expensive, so having something that helps the next generation to carry on their life at ease can be a helpful thing to do. I mean, even in those post-apocalyptic society cinema/books, there are always characters that live well because they inherited something from their previous family and though there was the great reset, they were still ahead of a lot of people. They were able to live a decent life again.
Perhaps it’s just the way this planet works...
Far beyond the universe, perhaps there are some places where things work differently. But in this planet of earth & something you and I experience is that I think, a baby is already born with something that their parents have. They continue living with parts of their generational wealth (materialistically or non materialistic) and they are going to leave something whatever they choose to be and the cycle repeats despite world war 1,2,3 or even the 100th & perhaps that’s just how it works on this planet.
Thumbnails made in canva with all CC0 licensed pictures.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
It is super intriguing and as a mode of debate your publication, since there are so many families with different beliefs and preferences, but what is true is that we take nothing with us, and the ones who stay only remember the lived and the moments with that person, the material can be lost, although I do not deny you that inheriting clothes that are still intact from your grandmother is A RELIQUIA, I would take care of it with my life until I give it to my daughters too💕.
It's why I think the things we leave behind illustrates the kind of live we lived. Since sometimes we only get bad memories even from our closest family. Thank you for checking it out!
You’ve been through a lot recently but these are really important questions to ask, for everyone, not just you, so thank you for asking them in public.
I’ve asked myself many of the same things but it’s always good to put things back into perspective and remember the obvious truths that we tend not to think about every single day
You're right, I just had this short conversation with my mom too, she didn't think about all that when she was young.I guess, it's one of those question that is important but slips through our mind and we didn't think about everyday. From all that experience, I certainly wanted to be a better version of myself and living life a lot more responsibly.
I think it scares a lot of people so they put it off. Also they don’t think they can get a handle on their fears relating to death (not only death itself but also failure and loss). Facing those fears gives you super powers though!
It's just that when you think like this, you get a lot of trouble, but it's a fact that one day we all have to leave this world and this world has to go on like us. There were people before and he is no longer in this world, only his memories are there, but still the world is going on the same way.
Thanks for checking out!
You have really communicated a lot of word of wisdom here and the truth is actually need to be discussing about what we need to leave behind. It is quite absurd that people will leave nothing behind
Yep, I don't think people just leave nothing. They always leave something be it good and/or bad memories.
That's actually true. I think what people most of the time does not leave behind according to what I am saying is the good legacy. Just as you always say, whether good or bad memories, people will leave something behind.
I pray at the end of the day, we live more of good memories and positives legacy behind much more than the bad or negative ones
Why is it absurd that people leave nothing (physical assets) behind? Do people not leave their indelible non physical presence behind?