My Five Minutes of Forever

I once heard someone say that our time here on earth is like 5 minutes of forever, that our lives are but a small parenthesis in eternity. And if this is true, I wonder why we feel the need to make our mark on the world, or why we wonder if anyone will remember us in the years to come, or why we wonder if we are monumental.

Billions of people have passed through life, and they've all been forgotten, so why do I feel I need to somehow escape being reduced to a rock saying something about my name and listing numbers that signified my beginning and end? Nothing about my accomplishments, the emotions I have felt, the ways and people I have loved, the trajedies I've faced, the things I thought and wrote about, the music that I loved, and the ways I have failed will live much longer after me.

I will one day be forgotten.

When I was a kid, I thought I should write a book, encouraging someone to remember who I was. Eventually the pretentiousness faded, but still I feel a need to be remembered. I still desire to create a legacy. And I live my life mindlessly pursuing accolades, hoping that my days and years really do mean something. I doubt that I'll ever really escape this spell that's placed on every human being--the desire to overcome their depravity, yet being unable to achieve it.

I was talking with my Dad last night and I think that's really what started the thoughts that formed this blog. I plan on majoring in Journalism, preferably at Cedarville University. But lately, I found myself scared to settle into a sort of pattern for my life...going to college, getting a job to put my degree to good use, getting married, having kids, then reaching the end of my days. It sounds silly now but I was thinking that maybe I should become a vagabond of sorts. You know, travel the world, facing risk, not having to face the same job and people everyday. My Dad finally convinced me to return to sanity, thankfully.

To be honest, someday in the future I will probably face times when I wonder if I ever will mean anything in the way I feel I need to. But I realize I have today to make the difference I can.

"...What people fail to realize is that achievements are eventually surpassed, records are broken, reputations fade, and tributes are forgotten...you were not put on earth to be remembered you were put here to prepare for eternity." -Wavlen