As I was walking our dog by the creek today, half the split trunk of a large willow had cracked completely off and lay across the path. This happens over time where the weight becomes too high and the pressure pulling it down is too much for the strength of the trunk. During the winter it was frozen solid and as it thaws, it is weakened and crack. By the afternoon, I saw from the window that someone from the council was already cutting it up, but I couldn't see if they were going to take the whole tree. I don't know why, but I always find it sad when trees are removed, especially old trees, even though this is Finland and there are plenty of trees.
Everything falls eventually.
Nothing is too big to fail.
Whether it be a government, a nation, a planet, star or universe. Eventually, everything will cease to be, or change so much that it is unrecognisable from what it once was, like a sun collapsing in on itself to become a blackhole. All civilisations, all empires, all of human history is filled with collapse after collapse, and while we are still here as a species, how we look as a society is very different. It might be better in some ways, it might be worse in others, yet it continues for now. Eventually though, we too will cease to exist.
When I look at what is going on today in the timeline of our species, I don't see it as a golden time that we will collectively look back upon with grace. Much like the cars of today, very few of them are destined to be classics, because the art of life is gone, replaced by the desire for money. Life today is mass produced, looking to create efficiencies of scale and maximise profit by decreasing quality and longevity.
Life isn't built to last.
Not just today, but ever. Yet, instead of seeing our inevitable demise as a challenge for improvement within a finite timeline, it is instead a window for maximisation of largely materialistic pursuits. Collecting the most stuff is the goal, even though at least in this society, no hearse pulls a trailer of money behind it. So we collect this stuff as a legacy, a reminder of us carried forward into a future we will never see. Yet, while we focus on the financial value we will leave behind, we do not spend much time thinking about the values we upheld that will be carried forward. We don't think about what kind of conditions even our next generation will live with, let alone two or three down the track.
My daughter asked me today whether my grandad was a good person, and the little I remember of him as a person, yes he was. But, I don't know much of his life outside of a few stories heard from family, little about his youth, or the struggles he had as a young adult between world wars, or the challenges both internal and external he faced welcoming my father into his family, at a time where white only policy for immigration was still in effect. A policy that many seemingly would like to return to now.
I don't want to be remembered for what I leave behind.
But I think we all want to be remembered for something, so I think that I would want to be remembered for the impact that I made going forward. Sure, there is the financial impact for my daughter that might improve her life, but is that enough? If she ever is blessed enough to have children and they ask about what kind of person I was, what do I want her to be able to say?
I will be gone, so it doesn't matter?
But I think it does.
Because I believe we shouldn't be living our lives for ourselves, but as a small part of a whole that we aim to improve together. Improve, even if never seeing the fruits of labour, or the sown seeds reaped. And I think working for toward a better future isn't a reduction of the present life, but rather an expansion of it, an improvement of the life we have. It gives meaning and direction, but also a list of tasks and ways to behave right now. And it isn't a solitary life, it is one filled with interaction, collaboration, that also drives personal growth and expands potential.
But I think that what we have done is reduced our lives down to a simple metric that all we have to do is make it through for ourselves. And we create all kinds of strategies and excuses to explain why we couldn't be better yet, did we even try?
Everything comes to an end, but I sometimes wonder how many of us actually start living? Perhaps instead of using this brief amount of time we have alive to do something useful, we flit it away on nothing of consequence, rewriting our personal history to create a narrative that we did the best we could with what we had - omitting all the others who had less, and did more.
We all fall down.
Unless we never stand up.
Taraz
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Man i understand you are waging your wars but we all are. Painting the entire world with “ the art of life is gone, replaced by the desire for money” is destructive projection and, after years of following you, i don’t believe you believe that. Time for that fucking hard knocks pep talk that would have been delivered by the previous generation had they not irresponsibly left the reigns in our unprepared hands by leaving us.
Fuck all that and take control of your inmer momologue. Is that what you choose for yourself and the message your would pass to your little one? Sure the world is feeling sorry for itself and looking for someone else to blame but homie don’t fuckin play that.
This is as much or more for my benefit than a atatement to you and you have followed me long enough to know this is not an attack. The sheep will resign themselves to give up and follow the flock to the sheering house but we sre not sheep. If it is so goddamn dire, then make the small changes we would like to see. Pur generation were told that we are masters of nothing and only hard work matters. Only half of that is true. Leaders lead.
If it is all fucked, i am getting elbow pads on and confronting it with my middle fingers up. Not just for myself but for the fools who have come to depend upon me. It is not the grand victory that measures the sum of our actions but the small wins along the way and how they will be duplicated in those who are following our lead.
Sure 70 years is a cosmically insubstantial amount of time in the grand scheme of things and all things die. Legacy is a trophy as useless as a fifa peace prize and i have enough carrots on the wnd of a stick to chase without pretending that is my motivation.
We are all doomed one way or another so lets get off our asses, unpin that Eeyore tail and make it happen no matter how it turns out. Fuckin gen x is the bridge between generations that need us to lead now.
I can slowly feel myself bitching out in life after so many years of "suck it up". It is not that there isn't beauty, but I don't see much evidence of creativity for creativity's sake these days. Nor do I see much evidence of people doing anything other than helping themselves survive. It is just my little circle I get to live in though, and perhaps my lens is not what it should or could be.
I reckon the only reason that I have made it this far is because of people depending on me, but my goal is to make it so they don't have to.
This I get. I think I am born in the wrong period of time. Not sure where I would have fit in though. Perhaps the dark ages.
Is this an In Living Color reference? :D
Haha ya! I sprinkled in a couple references to pop culture from our time to lighten it up the way it was supposed to be read. ;)
Give this a listen when you have 11 mins.
While the title reminds us of the collective inevitability of our end, your focus on the “peace” of that final moment changes the narrative, as you set aside the fear of loneliness to make room for an absolute presence. Perhaps dying “alone” is not about the absence of others, but about the arrival of a silence where we can finally be ourselves, without the weight of expectations. It is a dense subject, it is simply a human, existential, tragic approach? One thing we are sure of is that when our turn comes, our story will be told for us.
I see it that way in a sense. It is the point where we can be nothing else other than what we are. We have no choice in it.
Willows are notorious for that. The people across the street from my parents had a couple of them and they all eventually fell down on their own or got cut down. It was kind of sad when they were gone. It's sad when people leave your life too. I certainly hits a bit different even when you try to make it work.
What they do here when they are at houses, is trim them back to just the trunk every 5-10 of years or so. It looks dicky for the first year, weird the second, and then it looks nice and plump again. We don't have a willow thankfully though.
That sounds like a smart way to handle them.
If my health allowed I would like to do more for society in my retirement. Even though I do volunteer on occasion for the Toys for Tots during the Christmas season, I want to do more. My body just will not cooperate. I could care less if anyone rememvers me for it though. Is it enough for my kids to remember me well? Yep. good enough for me.
It is enough. At the moment though, I really feel like I am failing at doing what I need to do for my family. Maybe things will turn around.
That is what you feel. But is it what they feel? I would highly doubt it. It sounds like you are almost struggling with one of the things I do. Overly self critical.
Although it sounds good, but the world revloves around the materialism - at lesst for the most part. And there is nothing wrong in it, society and system has shaped everyone like this. There is a possibility of change but when and how? No one knows.
How I would like to be remembered?
I would want to be remembered as someone who made things clearer and lighter for others, not louder, not richer, not more powerful, not perfect. Just useful in a way that mattered. For helping someone think better, feel understood or see a wider perspective. Even for a short community. Sounds dramatic, dah! Of course with a materialistic legacy too.
Sometimes I think after a century like in 2126, most of us (adults now) would be dead. There would be few table talks, discussing us, and kids would be making assumptions with respect to the stories.
I feel that not much of what we are doing is going to matter for long these days. we are like bit of tech gadgets, obsolete very fast.
Yes. after 100 years dead. I don't care about being remembered for that. I just hope that something I started for the better, is still making an impact, even if no one knows it was me.
Hmm, if many of us can think of what we happens when we are no longer here. It is good to leave an inheritance behind for our children so that they can leverage on that and possibly build an empire. This is particularly true about the businesses men and women that borne generation wealth.
However, value added is better than material wealth as with time they are seem to vanish within a twinkle of an eye. Nothing is forever which is why i often frown at people for killing or doing all sort of atrocities just to have the money. Does it worth it in the end? There is another question we need to look at as where do go after the earth? Is our deed quality us to enter into the kingdom of God. Maybe that is not even exist or it does. It is just depend on what we want to believe and accept. Life is just for a while and we have to live it to the fullest without leaving with any regre
Since I don't believe in god, I am going nowhere, or to hell if I am wrong. I don't mind going to hell, even if I don't deserve it. If god is so immature and fragile it punishes good people for not believing, then I would rather go somewhere I am accepted.
Hmm, what do you believe in, if i may ask?
As in afterlife? Nothing. Fade to black and the bits of what I was go back into the cycle of atoms to become something else one day.
Nature quietly reminds us that even the strongest things eventually give way, yet the cycle continues. Money and possessions fade quickly, but the way we treat people and the principles we live by tend to echo through generations.
I wonder at what point we wake up and start working for better together.
Nothing lasts for ever. Indeed. Thats why it amuses me to see deluded Americans who think their Republic will be atop the world forever. The thing with collapse is it comes when it decides, despite all your spirited efforts to prevent it. In my opinion, America may be nearing collapse time, as a super power. Trump is making sure of that.
What legacy we leave for our kids is important, because that's likely what they are going to model their own lives on, and the lives of their own kids who hear about it later. So it's important not just to leave an inheritance, financially and otherwise, but a good legacy that inspires our kids to be better, to live the best version of their lives they can.
American empire is barely 100 years old and empires last a lot longer than that. Take Roman empire for example, that lasted between 500 and 1500 years depending on how you look at it:
Unified Empire: 27 BC – 395 AD (approx. 422 years)
Western Empire: 27 BC – 476 AD (approx. 500 years)
Eastern (Byzantine) Empire: 27 BC – 1453 AD (nearly 1,500 years)
So America has a long way to go still...
I don't think the US will last as long as the Roman empire. Different times, different people, different technology.
Good if America lasts longer...but Americans have to remove the tyrant sitting in the oval office first and prevent his likes from getting in there, ot
The inspire kids to be better is something I think about a fair bit and as I see it, there isn't much inspiring happening for them.
Eventually, humanity will cease to exist. Today I asked Grock who will come after us. And he said it will be a mind without protein bodies, an eternal mind.
Someday your grandchildren will ask the AI what tarazkp was like, and the AI will give them a complete image (after all, you left yourself in the blockchain).
A computer.
A computer with feelings and consciousness. And not even made of silicon and iron.
Life is very short, I want to be remembered as someone who made life of those around me better. And I have already built a foundation for both children financially, so working on the non-financial aspects now...
I wonder what kinds of things will actually end up making the difference between better and worse.
I think we should aim to leave more than just physical riches; and also create a legacy filled with kindness and personal development for those who come after us.
The problem is, there is very little incentive to do so. It is all aimed at material wealth.
The image of the cracked willow lying across the path feels like more than just a tree falling it’s a quiet reminder that strength isn’t permanent, even when something looks solid and rooted. I think that’s what makes it sad. Not just the loss, but the realization that time is always working on everything, even when we don’t see it.
Yeah, that might be part of it. All that effort to become a strong tree- just to fall over.
That fallen tree feels like a picture of our own lives. In the end, it’s not about the things we collect, but the kind of person we choose to be and how we treat others.
We end up dry, scattered leaves on the wind.
There will always those who want to be better, and those who don't even know how to want that. In a value sense, not materialistically. I'm glad that I have many of those people around me, at least enough to create a small community of like minded folks that are open for genuine interaction.
I have my ups and downs with this topic. I'm quite pessimistic about the world and where everything is going, but then I see how bad it can get in some people, and we're not that far down the road yet. Especially when I see the kids in my community. They're are alright. Their parents are self-aware, trying to analyze the bad in the world without falling into doom-think. Which is not easy.
Same unless they're dead then I feel less bad.
They're a lot harder to see unless you look (and can also look into the future, some people can't see outside their skulls).
I only had to fix my teeth a few times. So I was taking it for granted that my teeth will always be good. But recently one of them chipped. So my myth of invincibility has been broken...