My Final Message to the World: Remember Me Fondly, on Wikipedia Preferably.

March 15, 2010 by Screenbeard

I always thought the advice to “live life like there’s no tomorrow” to be a bit odd. I guess people say it to convince others to take risks and try for things they might be scared to do, but I don’t get that from it.

Defiant Taking life on.

If I was living like today was my last day, this is what I’d do:
  1. Tell work I wasn’t coming in today. Or ever. Maybe tell someone my passwords so they can get to all the old InDesign documents and Word templates I’ve made so they don’t have to start from scratch.
  2. Make sure my life insurance policy is sorted for Mil and Amm. Write down my email password so Mil can get into all my accounts.
  3. Blog my final thoughts, for the interests of imparting my final wisdom to the world[1].
  4. Play with Amelynne. Do everything she loves. Give her lots of tickles and cuddles, which I love.
  5. Play with Mil. Ahem.
  6. Invite everyone I know over for a party. Play the “I’m gonna die tomorrow” card to make sure they come. Cross those that don’t off my Christmas list.
  7. Die. Or perish, or cease to be or whatever it is that makes it possible that I know I’m gonna die, and not be taken completely by surprise the way it should be.

None of those things, except maybe the ones with my girls are things that anyone should be doing every day. Giving out my work password would be asking for trouble, as would telling all my friends I was dying just to get them to come to a party[2]. Maybe some of them would be good housekeeping, but I don’t think that anyone with a mortgage who’s leaving behind a family should live life like there’s no tomorrow.

Perhaps the only thing I’d regret might be that I haven’t got my name on anything “big”. You know, the kind of major contribution to society that gets you a wikipedia article.

Maybe that’s a better adage for today’s age… “Live life like you haven’t got a wikipedia article about you yet”. That sounds much more inspirational.

Footnotes
  1. Unless it’s like a whole world ending thing, in which case I mightn’t bother as no one will read it. Unless of course there’s a chance of survivors, in which case it might be important to document how stoic and focussed I was in the end ↩
  2. as opposed to getting them to read my website… ↩
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The My Final Message to the World: Remember Me Fondly, on Wikipedia Preferably. by Joshua Nunn, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 Australia License.

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  • Can I have your stuff?

    As an athiest the only way I can hope for an afterlife is to be remembered. If you consider your consciousness as a collection of memories and 'ways of thinking' then, like the genes you physically pass on to your offspring, aspect of your personality can infect others and live on through them. Every time someone tells a joke you once told them, or remembers a shared experience, or looks at the world through a lens that you gave them, a part of you buds off and spreads. I guess it's a good incentive to lead a virtuous life.
  • That's kinda the way I see it, although not as well thought out. I guess that's what I'd like too, but I just want one thing more you know? Something definable and tangible I can leave with the world. Whatever it is.
  • kiesan
    My hope is writing 'that song' that just keeps being played generation after generation... the royalties would keep my family bankrolled for the next millenia! Or I could steal a song like 'the lion sleeps tonight' from an impoverished tribe, and claim it as my own... it's a quandary.
  • Sounds like an excellent idea. I wonder if there are any tribes that have made an awesome web app I could take?
  • kiesan
    http://www.wired.com/underwire/2008/01/west-afr...
    I think you should claim the iphone coffin before they do!
  • You could always make your own entire Wiki. Nunnkipedia?
  • I once attempted a wiki just for Joshua Nunns... It didn't take off.
  • Heh, I wouldn't of cared, I'd of aimed to be as self indulgent as possible in hopes of getting a few laughs out of people at how ridiculous it is.
  • That was my original thought. I gave it up when I realised I'd rather spend my time and effort on things I could be really proud of. Like updating my blog theme for the thirtieth time that month.
  • kiesan
    If I could just get past all the ads on the spam sites, I'd find you. :-)
  • kiesan
    Technology and sites tend to move on a bit quick for my liking... Wikipedia around in 10 years? I don't think so. There is always something better coming along... add to that websites and hosting aren't really lasting. Things change. Data changes. Even if we carve our name in stone or on a tree, there's nothing to suggest that stone or tree will be there for very long.
    I think our influence on history is based on the way we relate to people. Good or bad. The larger that influence, the longer our name continues throughout time.
  • And I also think that if your influence is really that great, you'll end up on Wikipedia3010 regardless. It's smart enough to consider things like how nice you were to your friends.
  • Ah, but the information from Wikipedia will be floating around on spam sites for years and years to come... that's the kind of lasting fame I'm hoping for.
  • “Live life like you haven’t got a wikipedia article about you yet”

    I like that! :)
  • andrewjohnston2
    A bumper sticker I think
  • A final party! Wow, that would be a hoot. :) So there.
  • Keeping in mind of course that I would be dead the next day. Lets not
    get too happy about this. >:|
  • andrewjohnston2
    Maybe we could add you to other peoples Wiki pages so at least you have a presence there.
  • I think that is an excellent idea. You should get on that immediately.
  • tarale
    Hey, if Disqus aren't allowed to have a Wikipedia article, you sure as hell ain't getting one! ;)
  • But... but...


    Poop.
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