In their recent single “Centuries,” the band Fall Out Boy [1] make the following comment in the chorus [2]: “Some legends are told. / Some turn to dust or to gold. / But you will remember me, / Remember me for centuries. / And just one mistake / Is all it will take. / We’ll go down in history. / Remember me for centuries. / Remember me for centuries.” It can be a stressful thing to think that our lives are presented before the entire world in such a way that people could remember us for centuries. Of course, that has been true of at least some people throughout history. Anyone who leaves a historical trail of any kind leaves themselves open to the possibility that their life will be used by someone, somewhere for the purposes of memory long after they are gone. Usually this comes with strings attached, like being remembered for the purposes of being used for political effect, like the female astronomers of the 18th century that I had to write about in my DBQ for European History as a sophomore in high school, and whose names I forget but whose achievements I still remember all these years later.

When I think of a generation, other than our own, that was obsessed with the problem of image management, I think of the generation of the Founding Fathers of the United States (as well as the contemporary philosophes of Europe). This was a generation that knew it was involved in historically significant times, and so its every witty expression, every overheated pamphlet (not too dissimilar from our blogs), every newspaper article or book was written in the knowledge that it was about important things that could very well be remembered. Even obscure villagers in rural Darien Georgia, in writing their grievances about the King of England in 1774, wrote with an eloquence that anticipated Thomas Jefferson, enough to be remembered by historians today. It is not hard to see how our own age, even with all of its anxieties and concerns, is an age where people feel as if their words and deeds (even taking selfies) is worth being remembered by someone, to make some kind of record in this planet’s affairs.

How do we act knowing that we will be remembered by history. The art of crafting an image is a subtle one, and I do not pretend to be greatly skilled at this sort of thing myself. Some people prefer, for reasons of laziness or morality or some combination of the two, to live basically open and honest and authentic lives, with all the complications that follow, like Alexander Hamilton [3]. Others are like George Washington, living a public life carved in marble and keeping their entire private life, from their intense anger to their gentle humanity, hidden away from public sight, lest it mar their image. Some adopted a middle course, showing certain aspects of their lives while subtly neglecting others (like Benjamin Franklin). Some lived successfully in their lifetimes but have been dogged by intense criticism ever since (like Thomas Jefferson), while others were made fun of continually during their lives but respected after they were gone (like John Adams). Much depends on whether our reputations are in the hand of people who are friendly to us, and that is something that few of us can influence in the course of our lives and that none of us have any control of after we are gone.

How will others remember us in the centuries to come? Will we be thought of as vainglorious over selfies or bizarre for our love of memes, or will our writings be remembered as being heavy and ponderous or uncultured? What will survive the erosion of time, so that it will be available to be appropriated in the centuries to come by others who may seek to use the scraps of what remains of our intellectual culture to bolster their own positions in their culture wars, to comment on our virtue or depravity, our sensitivity or hypocrisy, our wit or our ridiculousness? I suppose we ought not worry about such things, but we do indeed worry, or else we would not bother to be remembered at all. Even if we know that we will all perish, we all want to live in some fashion a life that is worth leaving behind, in the fond memories of loved ones, in the record of photos and videos and writings, and in the loving care of our heavenly Father who, God willing, will raise us up into a life eternal where there will be no more suffering or anxiety or anguish or pain, things we know and reflect on all too often in this vale of tears.

[1] See, also:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/my-songs-know-what-you-did-in-the-dark/

[2] http://www.metrolyrics.com/centuries-lyrics-fall-out-boy.html

[3] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2013/08/18/book-review-alexander-hamilton/

https://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com/2014/10/02/book-review-the-intimate-lives-of-the-founding-fathers/