What remains of us (en)

Have you ever thought about your own death? Have you ever imagined how it would be to die, how you would be burried or burned, how your funeral would be like? And if all that, have you ever thought about how other people will remember you? Will they remember you as being courageous or cowardly, as somebody, who really lived his life or rather as a failed existence? Will they remember you as somebody, who was distant and cold, or rather as a warm person, who opened his heart for those around him and brought tranquility and joy wherever he went? And whatever you think the true answer would be, would you like that or how do you really want to be remembered?

I had to think about these questions tonight, especially about the last one, how people will remember me and how I want to be remembered.

I realized that many will probably remember me in a way that I feel does not encapsulate what I am like in my core. Many would remember me as cold and distant, some as insensitive, or cowardly, some as cynic, some even as arrogant and gruel. Only a few might remember me as patient or humorous, as loyal and loving in a deep and irrefutable way. Only a few people have seen these sides in me and will remember them. Too few, I guess.

But thinking about all this also made me realize what I want to be most remembered for. And that it is neither for having gained fame and fortune, nor for having been the most powerful man on earth, or for having had the most wonderful wife one could imagine (although I wouldn't reject that of course).

What I most wish to be remembered for is my irrevocable conviction that human beings are inherently good and loving. And that existence, life as such, is inherently good and worth living.

I would like to be remembered as somebody who never gave up upon his fellow human beings, for being someone, who, despite having witnessed much cruelty in the world, never ceased to believe in the ability to forgive and love even of the worst criminal and the most ill-treated victim.

Some might find this a surprisingly unexciting and boring goal but there really is no quality, which I admire more in other people than such ability for fearless love and human kindness.

So...

What do you want to be remembered for?