How happy is the blameless vestal’s lot… The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
That quote from Alexander Pope sounds peaceful on the surface, but I’m not so sure human beings were ever built to disappear quietly.
We all want rest from the noise. We all get tired of disappointment, heartbreak, drama, and trying to explain ourselves. There are days when disappearing from the world sounds like a form of mercy.
The truth is, none of us really want to be forgotten. We just want to be remembered correctly.
The older I get, the more I think about the people who came and went through the years. Some stay for decades, others drift through for one summer, one job, one neighborhood, one baseball season, one barstool conversation, one slow dance or that one night chance. Then life moves along and they slowly fade into memory.
What is strange is how entire lives eventually disappear from living memory. One day the last person who remembers your laugh, your stories, your bad habits, your favorite songs, your voice… will also be gone.
That is a hard truth to swallow on a Tuesday morning, but maybe that is why kindness matters so much.
Because kindness outlives witnesses.
A decent act keeps traveling long after the person who started it is gone. A kind father shapes his child. That child shapes another child. A teacher encourages one insecure kid who later encourages another insecure kid. The ripple keeps moving even when nobody remembers where or when it started.
Maybe the goal isn’t to be famous or immortal. Maybe the goal is simpler than that.
Leave enough goodness behind that the world stays kinder after you leave it.
Even after the last witness is gone.
