A quote:
“We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.”
When I first read it, I believed it. I wrote it on a little piece of paper and put it somewhere I’d see it everyday. It motivated me to follow my passions and dreams, to do what people told me was impossible, and to succeed in things I’d been too scared to even try. I loved the idea of never giving up, of showing people who doubted you that yes, you could do it.
I have, however, discovered (and by discovered, I mean read something supporting the idea) that creating something that eternalizes ourselves is a goal. It’s not the goal. I mean, c’mon, do we honestly think that anything we make is going to last forever? Do we think that after all life dissapears from this world and it returns to the way it was before we arrived, that anything we’ve done will matter, or that anyone is even going to be around to remember it?
We make beautiful art that gets put in museums, direct movies that win awards, carve our initials into trees, spray paint our building’s walls, and do epic and heroic things in front of others in the anthropological hope that we’ll be immortalized in some way.
We all have the right to live our lives however we want, but we don’t have the right to tell someone else that ”the” goal is to create something that will last forever, because some people can’t, and some people won’t. Is whoever it is that’s behind this quote suggesting that people who aren’t remembered by the world are less special, or less important than people who are? Some people will live their lives simply trying to find happiness wherever they can because they are not foolish enough to believe that we are immortal, and know that nothing we touch, create, or build up ever will be.
We all want to be heard. I personally believe that (like many compulsions and temptations) worldwide attention isn’t required to be truly happy, or to make the most out of your life. Even if no one ever mentions your name again starting the day after you die, I don’t think it matters. If you’ve spent you’re life doing things that you think are right or that you enjoy, I believe you’ve made the best of you’re time here.
Chasing fame and recognition doesn’t get you anywhere, believe this narcissistic, pretentious artist if anyone. I find that I’m far more motivated to do the things I love when I’m not doing them to please anybody. I assume this is because I’m doing them to learn more about the craft, discover my limits and abilities, and just have some freaking fun with it.
Don’t live your life trying to please anybody else. Laugh, cry, learn, teach, smile, scream, smoke, dance, fuck, read, write, drink, draw, play, sing, and sleep through your days in whatever fucking way you want to. Live for you, live for now, live for who you love and what you love. Don’t let other people tell you that you’re doing it wrong or you’re doing it right.
And write your own damn quotes.
