Remembrance

Its strange really, how man kind has always desired to be remembered. Its as if its our innate desire or rather something everyone has within them that has this longing for something about them to be remembered.

Of the great accomplishments that the ancients has done, one of them: The Temple of Artemis which was once a magnificent temple found in Greece was the object of arson due to a man's desire to achieve fame and an everlasting name throughout history. The Temple of Artemis as one would know is one of the original 7 wonders of the ancient world. So grand and magnificent was its structure that Antipater of Sidon gave a very bold statement when talking about the 7 wonders of the ancient world

"I have set my eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Alpheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labor of the high pyramids, and the vast tombs of Mausolus; But when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other mavels lost their brilliancy, and I said, "Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand"

Herostratus, the much famed or rather infamous arsonist destroyed this wonder in order to achieve everlasting fame. Sure enough, his name is remembered to this day but unfortunately his life ended quite abruptly thanks to the rightly outraged Ephesians.

Perhaps its vanity, perhaps its an innate thing that everyone has within them which trust me, no one who is true themselves can deny. Personally, I do desire to work in the background, I do not want to be known but there is a part of me that cries out to be remembered. This desire has caused many many many mistakes in history and at the same time so many more beautiful monuments. It has influenced the rise and falls of empires as well as the culture of people. It may not be self remembrance. Who has not heard of the Taj Mahal? The beautiful story which an Indian king built a magnificent monumental mausoleum in memory of his beloved one? This whole "Innate desire" may not always be bad in the sense of pride of wanting others to remember me kind of thing. But it could be something so heart warming as the Taj Mahal. We leave a mark in history, hoping that this golden sands of time would not bury us within the pages of history for what we hold dear, we wish to make it be everlasting in memory.

Sadly enough, that will never be true. Of the original 7 wonders of the ancient world, only 1 still exist and sadly for it, it has been kicked out of the list. Angkor Wat, Stonehenge, Colosseum, Petra, Machu Picchu are but a number of once famous and widely populated areas that has disappeared into the pages of history. Thankfully, mankind (not all a.k.a the tomb robbers etc) do try to preserve fragments of history here and there so that we will always remember who we truly are.

As a person who loves history, I am so thankful for those who has painstakingly preserved this important bits and pieces of history. But heres the question: How about the ordinary? The common folks? How about those who has lead mundane lives? What about them? Those that hold interest and importance to them? What happens to them? In the end, all it is is a touch in that person's life, something that leaves an impact but not in the history of the world. Though it does impact in a most seemingly negligible way as stated by the Chaos Theory (From which the saying "Does the flap of a butterfly's wing in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?" comes from). This is known as the Butterfly Effect.

For me, I do not wish to make an everlasting remembrance of myself. But rather of people who I love. People like my sister. Perhaps this is my selfish desire to always want others to remember who she was, who she is till the light of her life extinguished but I know, with much sadness that that will never hold true. Of the Billions of human life in the planet, she is but one. As much as I want others to remember, its futile to fight it anymore. All I can do in the end, is to be like the many other billions out there, before me, with me and after me. To just leave that somewhat miniscule and trivial effect on the pages of man as the sands of time goes on. What has been a major impact of my life and surely, I know it a major impact in others too, I believe that the memory though it may fade as new generations come, this impact that my sister has left behind will never fade.

R.I.P
My dearest sister.
These 3 years has taught me much and I wish you were here next to me so I could share it with you.
Never a forgotten moment. Never a forgotten feeling. Always a remembered memory.
I love you and wish I could have said it to you before you left :)
R.I.P