Tag: fame

Named after me

Today I am asked if I could have something named after me, what would it be?

People like having things named after them for some reason. I think it makes them feel like they are immortalized somehow, just by having a street or building named after them. I actually don’t buy into that idea. Roads and buildings are not eternal either, nothing in this world is. I also don’t really know those people. They might actually be terrible individuals and unworthy of remembering.

I also question what they really had to do with the thing that carries their name anyway. Did they build it themselves? This blog carries my name, and I wrote every line you read. That doesn’t seem so bad to me. If you breathed life into it yourself, then it makes since that it carries your name. It came from your soul. It is a part of you that you shared with others. I guess that’s what I would want to be named after me. The things that came from my soul. Anything else would just bragging about my good fortune.

What would you like to have named after you? Do you currently have something named after you? Are there other ways of being immortalized? Is there something you see every day that bears someone’s name? Do you put your heart and soul into anything? Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe!

Meeting with famous people.

Honestly, I’m not very good at meeting famous people. I think this is because I haven’t really lived or visited places where I’m likely to meet famous people. I also don’t seek out opportunities like this. I know people who would get crazy excited over meeting someone famous. I don’t think it’s my cup of tea though. I would probably just mark it down as a slightly untypical day. I do think our society has a lot more stars than it used to because of reality TV and YouTube, but I’m not sure if I would know those people if I met them. I don’t have a lot of time to follow all their channels. Of course, if I had met more famous people, this would be a much better blog post. Maybe I should look into meeting some famous people.

What famous people have you met? Is it easy to meet famous people? Do you have any pointers on how someone would go about meeting famous people? Let’s discuss in the comments, and please like, share, and subscribe! Maybe a famous person will read it.

People I think are successful.

When I think of successful, who comes to mind? I guess I would need to sort of define success before I could determine who is successful. Let me think of some things that I think of when I think of the word success first. Here are a few things that come to mind.

  • A successful person has to believe in themselves. To be successful, you need to believe that you can achieve the goal. This requires you to have or develop a level of self confidence in your own abilities.
  • A successful person is able to achieve the desired result. People aim for different objectives, but a successful person has to have the ability and will power to push though and achieve their goal.
  • A successful person is someone who has put in the work. Winning the lottery doesn’t make you a success. It might help spur you toward it, but to be successful, you have to accomplish something on your own.
  • A successful person is someone who didn’t lie, steal, or bully his way to success. There is some degree of honor necessary. You can’t be truly successful if you have sold your soul to get there.
  • A successful person has to have perseverance and patience. Some goals take a long time and you may fail many times and have to put yourself back on track. A successful person has to get back up and keep trying.
  • A successful person has to have the nerve to take risks. There’s a luck factor involved in success. Fortunes were made merely by being in the right place, at the right time, and being prepared and willing to take on the job. Fortune favors the bold.

Based on this definition, I suspect there is no one who is perfectly successful. That being said, I do think a few famous people have achieved enough to be considered a success. I might not agree with what they accomplished, but I do admit they were successful at their objectives. Here are a few people I think might be considered relatively successful.

  • Steve Jobs. He was very successful at starting and leading Apple to the height of it’s position in our society.
  • Elon Musk. He managed to start and lead several successful companies, and is seen as a visionary by some of his fans.
  • Bill Gates. I don’t always agree with him, but I believe he was very successful at getting Microsoft to it’s prominent role in our society.
  • Steven King. He’s on my mind because I’m reading his book On Writing. I wouldn’t say he is my favorite author, but I believe he has been very successful.

What will I leave behind?

I’ve thought about this for years, and have probably had lots of different opinions on it along the way.

I think I used to believe that being remembered by your community was very important. I grew up in a small town where everyone knew everyone. From time to time, the little church houses would fill with people attending funerals to pay their last respects. I remember older people saying things like, it was a good turnout at so-and-so’s funeral, he was liked by all. Back then, it seemed like that was the best you could accomplish, being loved by family and friends enough that they would show up to bid you farewell to worlds unknown, say nice things about you, shed a few tears, and then move on with the rest of their lives, patiently awaiting their own time to come.

I also thought about more grander things from time to time, like I would do something amazing that would change the world. Maybe I would become famous, or invent something, or become an author and write books. This was a pleasant thought, because it would mean that I affected the lives of way more than just those who crossed my path physically, and I might even be immortalized through publications or history, and go on to be known and remember by people in far distant generations. This would probably be the best legacy I could hope for, but much more difficult to attain.

So really, the legacy you leave to future generations, is just a memory of the person you were in life, what they saw in you, how you made them feel inside, the ideas you gave them, and the experiences you shared together, real or imagined. Considering that, I hope they remember me as a person who sought to understand, a person who wanted to experience deeper things and stronger emotions, a person who wanted to challenge barriers to life satisfaction and happiness and rethink outdated traditions, and a person who accepted others as they truly are on the inside.

Agree or disagree? What’s your legacy?