In two thousand years from now, will anyone of today be remembered? And if they are, what will they be remembered for? Will they be quoted like Plato, Socrates and Aristotle? Will they be remembered for what they have created? Or what they have destroyed?
Are our heroes only made of paper?
Maybe there is just such an enormous flow of information coming through our experience these days, and the majority of it is just noise specifically designed to engage and distract from what actually matters, that nobody is going to make a large enough impact for long enough, to ever be remembered. And these days, people seem to only care about those who have enough money, no matter how they behave. In fact, the worse they behave, the more attention they get, and the more money they make.
Who do people look up to in society today?
Scrub that question.
Who do YOU look up to today?
Do you have a role model, someone who sets some aspirational direction for you that you work toward? Do you have someone who seemingly has the life you want? Or someone who encapsulates the kind of role you want to play in your life?
Do YOU have a hero?
What makes a hero?
A hero is generally someone admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, and noble qualities, especially when facing adversity. Heroes often demonstrate selflessness, taking risks or making sacrifices to help others or achieve a noble goal. They possess qualities like bravery, determination, and moral integrity.
There are two parts to that common description of a hero that I find worthy to point out. The first ends with "especially when facing adversity" and the second is "moral integrity". These are highlights for me because we no longer celebrate overcoming adversity, we encourage victimhood. And moral integrity has been replaced by narcissism and hedonism.
Courage? bravery?
Younger generations can't even find the ability to answer the phone, or hear words that they don't like - is a "noble cause" getting out of bed now? And yeah, I am sure there are people out there that do a lot of good and maybe even live a great life - but a life remembered a thousand years from now?
It isn't about being remembered.
It is about doing something worth remembering.
I think it is interesting to consider what has been memorable in the past, where people are still pulling up the insight of philosophers from several millennia ago, and then predicting what the equivalent might be in the future. And, these days, things are recorded with much more consistency and clarity than earlier, and across multiple formats.
Will greatness be discovered?
Or will it all be lost to volume.
I don't know. What I do know is that what I have discovered so far, is that there are very few publicly known people who I would want my daughter to role model. And while I know a lot of decent people in real life too, pretty much all of them are struggling in various ways also, and in general, are nor courageous, and tend to not deal with adversity well either.
Does anyone these days?
And I don't mean the average, run of the mill dealing, I mean the kind of thing that is epic and would have poems written about it in days gone.
And maybe this is the problem with me. Maybe because I have been surrounded by all of the fake heroes of society for so long and have been exposed to so much terrible behaviour, I have become jaded. Maybe now, I have become so disillusioned with humans, that there is nothing anyone could do that would impress me enough to say, that is worth remembering for as long as humanity can.
Maybe greatness is all around, and I am too blind to see.
Or maybe, there is just so much grabbing for attention - nothing leaves its mark.
What do you think?
Taraz
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