Eric Schlehlein, Author

What would you like to be remembered for after you’re gone?

A service, perhaps, to humanity, wildlife, the planet, or a god?  Devotion to an individual, your family, a cause, a religion?

Maybe you’d like to be remembered for an idea, an invention, or a passion for something.  Are you aiming to be the best in your field, your sport, your genre, or your art?

Are you wishing to be famous… or perchance, infamous, which are similar and yet very different.  Famous is an “is” amid the living, and a “was” among the dead.  Infamous shall always be an “is.”  To be famous is to be acclaimed or illustrious, grand or renowned.  Being famous is glorious.  To be infamous is to be notorious and flagrant, overt and blatant.  Being infamous is scandalous.

Amelia Earhart was famous.  Bonnie Parker is infamous.

Are you struggling with the entire equation?  Are you looking for the meaning of life?  Are you searching for God, for Zen, for Karma, for your own spirit?

Do you look to your ancestors to predict your future, your descendants, your reason?  Are your everyday activities connected to your vision of how the world shall one day look at you?  Have you switched occupations because you don’t want future generations to see you as a clerk, a farmer, a garbage man, or a fry cook?

I can relate.  I’ve done it.  I’ve looked, I’ve worried, I’ve dreamt, I’ve changed course.

I’ve devoted half of my life to serving others.  I’ve worked with the less fortunate, the developmentally disabled, the emotionally disturbed, and the mentally ill.  I’ve been at five alarm fires and 3 am car wrecks.  I spend my weekends giving old ladies breathing treatments, dodging projectile vomit, and marveling at pitted edema.

I write as a means to put a permanent footprint on the world.  If my name’s in print or on the web or on the back of this napkin, then the world will remember, won’t it?

But what is it that  I  would like to be remembered for after I’m gone?

Simple acknowledgement.

Goodwill.  Obligation.  Recognition.  Indebtedness.  Retrospective sympathetic affection.  Gratitude.  Lots and lots of gratitude.

I want to be remembered for being thankful.  I want to be remembered for being so very grateful to God, to my family for being my family… to my dear friends and my not-so-dear ones, too, for being there for me.  Remember me for appreciating the small things, like sunny days and rainy days, a smile, a well-timed frown, a door held open and another one closed.  Remember me for making the biggest deal out of the smallest of favors.

Remember me for recognizing a badge of kindness and for forgiving indifference.

Most of all, remember me for never missing the opportunity to say “Thank you.”

Thank you.