World worthy

A year ago today, I made a pact with myself. I promised myself that I would do something extraordinary. I had just turned 40. A funny number 40...I started looking at life a bit differently. I saw it as a finite resource that I was wasting away. I saw each day slipping through my fingers like sand at the beach. For the first time in my life, I accepted the fact that I was going to die. I will not live forever, or will I?

I have achieved middle age - the apex of life. I don't have, nor do I need a sportscar.  However, I have yet to achieve anything that will stand the test of time - or as I like to call it "world worthy".

I know my ego drives this thinking. Is it bad to think this way?

My ancestors have almost all died. The memories associated with my grandparents are disappearing. The pictures are there, but my kids didn't know them. They didn't know the way my grandfather loved to tease. They will never know anything about him except what we share about him. Eventually, the stories dissipate with the passage of time and the memory of him will die when all those that knew him also die.

That sucks! How can I elude my own mortality? How can I live on after I die? Is it even possible?

I think it is.

We have names that ring into our consciousness despite them being dead for a long time. Do you have to be famous to live on forever? It probably doesn't hurt. But what if we did something so wonderfully awesome that the world took notice, historians captured it and future generations would learn about it.

I want my great great grandkids to be proud of what I've done for them, for their name, for their community, and for their world. How am I going to do that?

Any ideas? I'm running out of time...