The human mark

I want to take a moment to observe the life cycle of an animal, any one. Let’s take the example of the lioness. It is a majestic, beautiful, strong, and independent creature. What has it done of its life? Well, almost nothing. When the lioness is born, she spends the first part of her life getting fed by her mother, sleeping, and growing up. Then she starts hunting and having sex when she becomes an adult. At which point she becomes a mother as soon as possible and starts taking care of her cubs until they grow up and she becomes too old to survive in the wild.

Now let’s take a look at the life cycle of a human being. From the beginning of time, it has always been more or less this way: The baby is born. Their mother looks after them until they grow up. And when the human being becomes an adult, they may choose to get married and have kids, therefore spending most of their adult life raising those children; providing them with food, shelter, affection, and education. They eventually grow old and become senile and only care about their health. What has the human done with its life? Well, I know I have generalized too much. But what I mean is that, if these broad lines were the only broad lines in one’s life, what did they add to humanity?

Even if someone doesn’t necessarily want to go through all these stages, they would have to wonder: “What can I do with my life to leave a good mark on the world?”

Did you know that the worst condemnation of history was to erase one’s memory from history? It’s an actual punishment, “Damnatio Memoriae”. It was mostly used in the ancient Rome to dishonor a traitor. Their name was erased from all documents and people weren’t even allowed to pronounce it. And as humans need recognition for their accomplishments, this condemnation is the worst dishonor to someone.

So what have you done to leave your mark in history and to have a life cycle different from the lioness’?