The Fact of Death

Okay, this is a jumble of thoughts. Sorry.-------------I have personally always found the idea of 'legacy' - that is, that you will live on in other people's memories and that your influence will ripple down the generations to be decidedly lacking on several counts.1) You aren't guaranteed that you will have any - or if you do that it will have a net positive effect.2) If people's actions are influenced by their predecessors, then you can't actually claim ownership of any of the good ripples that you happen to pass on. You are a conduit rather than a genuine effector.------------

quote:

---

Life is all about that motive of "accomplishment."

---

I think it possible that this is a bit of a generalisation. It might be that the idea that accomplishent is the primary motivation is relevant only to certain kinds of culture.I speculate that the idea of accomplishment as we might understand it might have been quite alien to a a medieval surf. The primary motivation for such a person might be instead couched in terms of obedience or some such.This may seem nit-picky, but I think its quite important not to generalise our own motivations to others if we can help it.

For me, accomplishment pertains to life's optional extras: the things above and beyond that which you have to do to maintain adequate levels of health. Its the cool stuff like excelling or improving in art, or other intellectual and physical pursuits.If everything you do that helps you stay alive a bit longer is an accomplishment, then I'm not sure how meaningful the idea of accomplishment is.To return to our medieval peasants, I don't know if their obedience to their feudal lord can be considered an accomplishment as we understand it. It certainly helps keep them healthy, but I don't think it does much more than that.I'm not sure if that's actually much help, or has any bearing on your argument at all. Perhaps I shall shut my trap now.