It is common opinion that the human
lifespan is relatively short. It hadn't quite hit me fully until the recent death of my grandfather. A man who lived a very full life and dies under the most loathsome of circumstances (see my writeup under
grandfather). In sifting through his belongings I saw a record of that life. It was laid out in pictures, letters and newspaper clippings, telling me the story my grandfather never had the opportunity to tell me himself.
Now I ask myself, "self, what will my grandchildren know of me?, what
legacy will I leave behind?". In this day and age most of the records of my exploits are kept digitally. Sitting on magnetic plates, easily wiped from existence with a simple
rm command. Then again it's caused me to ask myself what it is I've really done with my life. In comparison my life seems a mere
shadow of my grandfather's. He was an archery
champion, an accomplished hunter, veteran of the
Korean War, little league coach. Will my son or daughter tell their
children "well your grandfather was a
Linux Geek during the great
Open Source Revolution and Served in the
military during
peacetime"?
I now feel the need to save those old programs from the plays I've been in, the photographs I have that are actually prints now
must be preserved. I feel a strong urge to create something lasting, something
permanent. Perhaps it took the loss of my Grandfather to cement this in my brain. A human being, in the long term, will always be known by what they leave behind. My
goal is to make sure that I leave behind something
positive.