How would you like to be remembered?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I was watching the end of a 1987 tribute to James Stewart, hosted by Johnny Carson, the other day, and this was the last question that Johnny asked. Stewart’s answer was pretty forgettable, but it set me to thinking.

I would like to be remembered occasionally, quietly (I hate fuss) in people’s inner mind and heart. I would like such a memory to trigger a small inner smile, based on a memory of some interaction or event that they enjoyed. And then they would move on with the next thing in their life.

How about you?

2

I’m a rather timid, awkward, fearful person.

I want to be remembered as the opposite: Bold, courageous, and charismatic.

3

Gently.

4

Cliché, I know, but mostly I want my kids to remember me as a good example to them.

5

I like to think I leave most interactions with the other person feeling a little better about himself of or at least his day. I would like to be rememebered as someone who they were usually glad to see.

6

I just want to be remembered. “How” is irrelevant.

7

Same as I remember my dad.

8

I’d like to be remembered as a nice person. If someone thinks of me and it makes them smile for a while that would be a nice tribute.

9

“She wasn’t a TOTAL bitch” - I’d settle for that.

10

Good husband, father, and stepfather. Everything else is gravy.

11

I’d like my daughter to remember me with love. It doesn’t matter to me if the rest of the world forgets about me.

12

For not dying.

h/t Woody Allen

13

As someone who tried. As a father, husband, friend, business manager and leader, guitarist. I tried to understand and own my human frailty and be a student of life in ways that others saw and valued. That would be wonderful.

14

My name shall echo throughout the cosmos for eternity; hearing it shall make bold men tremble and mighty kings fall to their knees in despair. Men of God will call me Hell-spawned, men of the sword will call me genius, those I spare as witness shall call me nightmare. My blood-soaked legacy shall leave scars upon entire galaxies. I am Regallag the Axe, brutal destroyer of worlds!

15

For the win.

What about the lamentations of the women of those you have vanquished? Will they echo through the valley?

16

I’d also kind of like to be remembered in my profession. I aspire to a “small but serious reputation”, as John Irving might phrase it (The World According to Garp). My profession is fast changing, and whatever I’ve done will be obsolete not long after my death, but I guess I can dream. My work has been cited in at least one actual paper book, so I guess my name will hang on there for a while.

Anyway, that would be nice. But, mostly, my answer is still:

17

Well, if you were Regallag The Sword, maybe. An axe, though? Clumsy weapon. Something you see in the hands of farmers and other conscript rabble. A sword, now, is a weapon of finesse and sophistication. Men of the sword will more likely call you “unexpectedly deft” or “better with an agricultural tool than one might expect.”

18

With surprise that even though my lifestyle should’ve put paid to any good health very quickly, I managed my four score and ten in fine fettle.

19

Ask me again when I’m very old. I haven’t finished trying to do things yet.

20

For making the world a tiny bit better. For a few select individuals, a lot better.