I don’t know. I guess I’m the last of the “line” if that means bearing the “family” (father’s) name, and my sister’s son (3 years old) has a very serious heart condition requiring somewhat frequent valve transplants (tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary artesia), and she just miscarried another potential, and she’s getting almost as old as I am (she’s 33 or something). Most likely I will not have children bearing my name, since I’m done with getting imbricated with crazy women who “love” me. She’s taken her husband’s “name,” though, and I’m pretty sure I’m the last (youngest) with this name.
For me: I do nothing, and try to do good works in my life and feel a bit of empathy to my father, who’s probably kind of pissed right now, cause he wants to live forever, or something. However, it is kind of bad sounding to let the name die off from apathy or bad experiences. Plus all those trips to Planned Parenthood – even wading through the brimstoners was never fun, and the waiting room for men/family was terribly sad – lots of tears. Hate to say it, but I wonder if one of those women would have carried the child, what would have happened (these weren’t floozies, but close “friends” who would have gotten hitched probably).
It wouldn’t affect me much at all. I’m already a childless adult, I wouldn’t be inclined to have kids just to have someone to pass my shit down to. My sister is a lesbian who hasn’t yet been child-minded, so our line is probably ending with us anyway.
The only effect it would have is to make me write a will, donating whatever is left of my estate to charity.
Except for the inheritance bit, this describes me exactly. The only thing I’ve done is to tell my mother to give any of the pass-downable things she has which belonged to my paternal grandparents to my cousins on my father’s side, as there’s no point in my owning them for 20 or 30 years and then having them go to an estate auction when I go.
He left £1,000 to Boston & Philadelphia in trust for 200 years. By 1990 over 2 million was in the Philadelphia trust (had been used mostly for local community loans). At the end of the 200 years they spent it on scholarships. The Boston trust grew to almost 5 million that has been used to establish & support the Franklin Trade School.
I think the idea appeals to me because it’s so hopeful about the future.
Up until my sons were born when I was 35, I was the last male member of my family line. Then we discovered my grandfather’s name had either accidentally or deliberately been changed when he came to the U.S., so for all anyone knows, I may have a bunch of second cousins running around the Carpathian plane.
I have two brothers and none of us have offspring and the family line will cease to be when we do. I will also not outlive my assets.
My lifestyle has been affected but only in that I spent zero dollars and time raising children and this allowed me to enjoy economic comfort now and I have no regrets.
My worldview, I believe, is unaffected. The world will do what it does and I have no realistic control over it and don’t worry about things I cannot alter.
It makes my life more materially comfortable since I have more money. I’ve never cared about my “family line” so that’s no downside. The only real downside is that it implies that my brother is dead; that would make me unhappy.
Wow. This thread is a little scary. I too am the last of my line. I expected my response to the OP to be unique, but reading the others makes me wonder if this is a portent for the end of the human race. I’m kidding of course, but sheesh, am I the only one who thinks it really odd that the majority of responders in this thread have not procreated?
My wife and I never had children, and now that she’s in her mid 40s and I just turned 50, we’re about as likely to have children at this point as I am to grow an extra hand. We both will have no relatives to leave anything to if, as expected, our much older, remaining relatives die off before we do.
We’re scheduled to attend a retirement counseling seminar in March, but at this point I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do with our stuff. We have 2 houses, motorcycles, cars, a boat, and all the accoutrements of a comfortable lifestyle, and it’s a bit much to wrap our heads around.
Not really, it’s a classic case of a self-selecting group. People who are in or close to the situation described in the OP are more likely to find the thread relevant and respond.
I’m the youngest of three children, with no children myself and just a single 21-month old nephew. I’ve already joked he must not be allowed to watch Kind Hearts and Coronets, as he is very likely to inherit from all of his aunts and uncles. He is also the only child on my sister-in-law’s side of the family. In practical terms, I guess this means I can be a bit more free with my money towards the end of my life, as I’m not too concerned about having a legacy to pass on to him. Right now it’s looking unlikely he will need it, although of course circumstances can change. If I had no descendents at all I’d simply leave my legacy to charity.
There seem to be a few threads with a similar theme floating around the board at the moment. I sometimes hear people talk about “immortality through one’s children” and that people who chose not to have children are committing “genetic suicide”. I don’t think these ideas really stand up to scrutiny. We have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents… and over a thousand ancestors once you go back a mere ten generations. In twenty generations this number climbs to over a million. Taking this idea forward, even if I had many direct descendents, my distinct genetic identity would quickly become diluted. The flip side is, even though I have no children, similar genes are floating around in the gene pool in my extended family. This makes a mockery of the idea obsessed over by many kings, that of founding a dynasty. Genetics has no special respect for primogeniture. I’m not in any way denigrating the importance of raising children, just pointing out that having them shouldn’t be an act of ego. I’m very fond of my nephew, he is one of the most significant people in my life.
The fate of all humanity is genetic dissipation and obscurity. In a sense, you survive your own death with the memories you leave behind, but all but a tiny fraction of us will be completely forgotten within a few generations. Even those that achieve great fame will ultimately be forgotten. This doesn’t cause me any distress, it’s just the way things are. Nor does it diminish the lives we lead and the relationships we form, they are of great importance to us now and that’s all that matters.