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Today I want to talk about a more serious topic—how do you want to be remembered?

I am a firm believer that we are just electric impulses. And so after we pass, there are nothing left. No afterlife, no heaven nor hell. If you believe in reincarnation, this topic might not be for you. But you are free to voice your thoughts of course.

Having lived for 30 years, I feel like I have passed the peak in life mentally speaking. Anything after this will just be a slightly less intense version of what I experienced before. Not because the events are not significant, rather it is because I am not capable to feel the full spectrum of emotion or feelings as we grow older. We have less brain cells going forward and the neural networks are not as robust as it used to be.

Ever since I am a little kid I always wanted to make a difference. Even though I was raised in China, when promotion of individualism was discouraged, I wanted to make an impact. It's my lifelong goal. If I were to go tomorrow, my only regret would be I haven't leave a more significant mark in this world. But I also understand nothing lasts forever. If we have a time machine and travel far enough into the future, no one would remember anything in the present as we know. It's humbling and liberating. If you find that thought disturbing, chances are you haven't learn to let go yet.

They say you die twice. The first time is when you physically die. The second time is the last time someone mentions your name or thought of you. So knowing this, my answer to the topic is I'd want to be remembered as a kindhearted person, who lived an ordinary life.

Food for thoughts:

My family has a history of being remembered only by street names, so I'm content. I have no wishes to leave anything behind to specifically remind anybody of my existence.

My real thoughts? We're nothing but grains of sand, by the time it's closing that's what we'll think of. But for now most will want to be remembered and what not, people may not confirm it but it has crossed their minds once or twice. So no, I don't want to be remembered after I die, and by that I mean after I am buried or my ashes scattered, that should be the final time I should be remembered, after that, go and raise hell.

Maybe not grains of sand, more so cells or the tiniest thing we can imagine (in b4 egos want humans to be the greatest thing evar yoooo!)

If you could travel into the future wouldn't that mean you're living in a past and not in a present right now? What if you could? Wouldn't that mean that you're skipping a part of a predetermined storyline of your life? What would happen if you would travel beyond your predetermined lifetime? Would you die instantly or become immortal?

I don't really care much what people think about me as I'm alive, let alone after I'm dead. The only thing I care about is whether what they believe is true or false. Hard to make sure of that once you're dead, so I guess the best thing to do would be to be as transparent a person as possible while you're alive (something I don't much like doing since talking about myself is not a favorite past-time).

I think being remembered is futile. Even the most famous people back from 10,000 years ago are only remembered as parts of something that they've done to either further or deter human society as we know it, and not as their true individual selves, so Perry's assumption that taking said time machine to the future to see if anyone remembers us would be pointless. People only get remembered for what they do, not necessarily for who they really were.

I feel that the only real way to be remembered for who we were is through what we pass on to our children. I don't eve mean our biological children either, they could be children who've watched us fuck around life long enough to decide that maybe we're a good enough role model for them and that they want to become like us, and invariably become like us in some way. It's not going to be perfect, of course, but for some people, the phrase "just like your father/mother" is more true than we realize or want to admit.

If our children become complete assholes, it's most likely because we were complete dicks ourselves. And as much as scumbaggery is my modus operandi, I want my children to be at least relatively decent human beings and not deranged psychopaths.

TL;DR, I guess I want to be remembered through my children, or at least through the generation who's watching me whether I'm aware of it or not.

How I want to be remembered... Hell no I do not actually want to be remembered by anybody. I hate the idea of having to think about people who had passed on, and I do not wish for anybody to think about me when I am gone. That is what I am aiming for, I will die in peace after everybody I know is already dead. I am serious.

This depresses me greatly thinking about it. While I was working on my final thesis to get clearance to teach in the state of California; my colleague said something profound, "The struggles that we have right now mean nothing to us because in the end we all die." And that really resonated with me, because this stupid thing has been stressing me out for the past 2 months. Will it matter? Hell yes! Its my career on the line with this paper. But 70 years from now when I'm on my deathbed, will it matter? Not really. Everything that I do in life means nothing, does that mean I should resign myself to be a useless piece of crap? No! I'm going to make something out of my life, no matter how short or long it is. I'm doing to do everything I can to give back to the community and to those who live around me. Why? Because its not my style to sit around and be useless. But I guess when I sit down to think about it, the legacy that I want to leave behind--no matter how petty and insignificant it really is--will be my kindness.

It doesn't really matter in my eyes what people will think of me after I'm dead. I've thought about it a few times and that is where I currently stand. Will I feel that way 20 years from now? I don't know. I say that and legacies have always been seen as very important in my family. Where I am now in life, I'm trying to stay grounded in the present while carrying out a plan that will hopefully benefit me both in the short and long-term. Unfortunately, I still get bothered more by past mistakes I made than the thought about how I'm perceived by others once I'm gone.