I want to have this exchange I had on youtube on here as well.
The video is OSP’s Trope Talk: Personifying Death
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx4ByQpIMBE
Transcribed:
ME:
Reaper Man goes so unbelievably hard. “No one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away, until the clock wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone’s life is only the core of their actual existence.” Big recommend for discworld to anyone, thank you Red for promoting it.
OTHER PERSON:
I’m sorry for this comment in advance, I’ve been having a bit of a death related spiral recently and am trying to talk myself out of it, but most people that have ever lived are still finally dead. Everyone who knew them is also dead. They probably haven’t made art or music that is remembered to this day. The ripples of most peoples lives will still die away within the next few generations after their death, right?
ME:
Here’s how I like to think of it.
Most people who have ever lived are forgotten. The goal of life isn’t to be remembered by the world. You need to live for yourself first. What “living for yourself” means is different for each person. Some want to build a legacy and be remembered by the world, but that isn’t the default purpose of your life. You get to decide what you want to be about. Almost always, people want to be loved by those around them. To have a positive impact on their friends and family.
The purpose of the Terry Pratchett quote isn’t to compel you to try to be remembered by the world at large. It’s not telling everyone to try to become the next Shakespeare or the next Casesar. It’s condolence for people who are grieving the loss of loved ones. So long as you remember them, the advice they gave, the comfort they provided, the love they had for you, they are still with you. In spirit, they live on with you, because you remember them. You can continue to draw on their love even if they’re dead, so long as they are remembered. You will die some day too, but you will be remembered by the people you affected, and in them you will live on. Eventually you will be forgotten, but the goal isn’t to evade death by being remembered forever by the world at large. The world needs more mothers and brothers than it needs playwrights and generals.
This Pratchett quote comes from Reaper Man (spoiler ahead), a book in which Death is fired from his job. He becomes mortal, and takes a job working as the only other farmhand on an old widow’s farm. Over the course of their interactions Death gains a new appreciation for life and the time mortals have to spend, and ends up sacrificing his remaining lifespan to save a young girl’s life. The Widow and her farmhand both ultimately die at the end of the book, but they comfort each other and change each other with the time they get to spend together.
