I hear the word “forever” used in lots of places as I go through my everyday. “I’ll love you forever”, “I’ll be here forever”, ”that’ll be here forever", “this will be remembered forever”, or “they’ll rest here forever in peace”. That last one struck me as I drove past a cemetery one Saturday a couple of weeks back. The sad reality is that it’s just not true. Think of some of the things you think about truly being forever:
The idea of you Your loves Your relationships Your “mark” Your photographs Your resting place Even your country
But guess what?
After several generations, you (as an individual person) will be forgotten. People that you love, and love you, will die. Your existence will be erased by time. Pictures fade. Land will be needed for other purposes. Countries rise and fall.
It’s hard to think of something, anything, that will truly be here forever. Forever is a really, really long time. The concept of forever is infinite. Is anything really infinite?
I often here the word “eternity” thrown about, especially when it comes to the idea of what’s after death. It’s hard for me to believe that. For many reasons.
There is a sadness that washes over me when I think about the lack of a “forever”. Like something is lost. Something that will never return. And I realize that I, and everything I love, hope for, wish for, will be forgotten at some point. As if it, or I, never existed.
It’s sobering.
So I focus on what I can control. To live and love to the fullest while I am here. While I have time. While I still matter. While I am not forgotten.
