One or the Other

You have two choices in this blog post.

1) Live into your old age as an average Joe, doing nothing of any real notable merit that would make you famous.

2) Die in your early twenties, but be insanely famous. People would know your name 2,000 years from now.

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If I was able to chose between living in peace to my old age without fame or any extraordinary attention or dying in my early twenties and being very famous, I would have to choose dying young.

I would choose to die young because I have always believed that its not when you die or how but why and for what reasons. Early in my childhood I lived with my Grandparents and I would always complain when I was asked to do a chore or something unpleasant. I would ask if I really had to do it and my Grandfather would reply "You don't have to do anything but die, and you only have to do that once". My mother is employed in the Medical Field and is always hounding family members and especially me about our nutrition and exercise habits reminding us that such and such activity could lead to a specific untimely death, to which I've learned to reply "Well, I've got to die of something." These two examples have greatly influenced my decision to die young.

Because of my past experiences I have always been aware of the certainty of death for all human beings. For me the fact has been that inevitably I am going to die as will everyone else I know and we will all probably be forgotten. This thought is only reinforced through examining history. We know very little about the past century and most people would be hard pressed to name 10 people that have lived outside of the 21st and 20th centuries. Many people cant name thier own family members past two generations from themselves so what is there to say that I will be remembered.

It is also necessary that I establish why it is important that I am remembered. I have many times wondered about what the pourpose of living is. The purpose cannot be acquiring wealth as it leaves upon the moment of your death and is no longer of any use. In fact that argument applies to all material possesions as gaining them means nothing after passing from this world. I have come to think that we live to leave a legacy that will inspire others. A legacy is the largest and most valuable thing a person can hope to build. Very few people will remember Bill Gates in a few hundred years and his name will join Rockefeller and Carnegie among the tycoons that only historians can recall but many will remember Jesus Christ or others because of their legacies. Those thinkers that changed the world are remembered because of the legacy that they left, Legacies that cannot be bought even by the richest individuals of an era.

I would chose to die young because of the inevatability of death, and the importance of leaving a legacy. We all are going to die and I had might as well die in a way that is remembered and creates a legacy that will go on to inspire others for thousands of years.