Why?

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What is it about human beings that want to remind each other about those who have gone before? Memories and anniversaries are one thing when the people who know are around to celebrate them, but to remember someone’s birthday or a couples wedding or some other special event long after they are gone?

 

We create history books to remind us of people and places that had great impact on our species, but so many of us are just common schmoes who come and go with hardly a ripple in time. We work, have families, build houses, fight wars, and maybe, just maybe affect some other schmoe while we are here. Some families have ancestry records with names no one recognizes and some have headstones to make where they were left but so many of us will be forgotten.

And those who are not forgotten are remembered in the strangest ways. Statues and plaques with the likeness of statesmen, religious leaders, and families who have the money to remind us of how important and powerful they were when they were here are constructed and dedicated by their heirs.  

 

So great authors, musicians, entertainers, or other newsmakers of their time are celebrated long after they have gone. Headlines remind us that someone would have a 100^th birthday on a certain calendar day.

Why?

Why do we need to remember when someone was born or wed or died to place their value on this planet while they were here? Does it make us feel better or maybe closer to the person who we never knew when we lay flowers on their graves or light candles around their statues or write a blog or an article for a news story on how long ago this person or persons were here.

 

I agree a reflection is worthy of noteworthy people and their accomplishments but it can go too far. Celebrate their influence on your life every day and rejoice in having the privilege to be associated with them.