Is leaving some kind of a legacy behind important to you?

If by legacy you mean radioactive wasteland in which nothing can survive for a million years, it is the most important thing in za warudo.

Not quite what I was getting at but good to know^.

I just hope my kids and friends remember me as someone who was beloved and tried to live her values. (And had a good sense of humor.)

Teachers never forget me. One still tells stories about me. She even put me in her book.

Nope. Someday I will be dead and gone and no one will know I even existed. And I’m ok with that.

People will be more aware of me when I am gone than they are now.
How lonely does THAT sound?

The only “legacy” I care about is that I raised my offspring to make positive contributions, and maybe, by helping some young people out from time to time I ease their way to make positive contributions.

I don’t really care that much if people actively remember me, but I would like to hope that if they do, it’s not with pain or anger.

I hope I leave good memories behind.

I have left some technology legacies that nobody will equate to me but they will be here for a very long time.

Ooooo, what?

all consuming grey goo nanobots.

I can see why some people want that, but the reality is that the waters just close silently over most of us and show no trace that we were here. So I don’t long for a way to make a permanent mark. As long as my sons wait until I’m actually gone to dispose of my most treasured things, and remember where to find the list of people they should notify, I think I’ll consider that good enough.

If my daughter turns out to be a decent human being and I occasionally cross her mind, I’ll be thrilled.

Not that I’d know, but that’s my hope.

Not really. I’ll be dead.

Like @canidmajor , I hope my legacy is to be remembered for being a good father and raising two great kids.

One of the harsh realities one learns as they pass through their forties and older is that it is very rare for anyone to have a legacy that lives more than 50 to 100 years after they are gone.

Rock Hudson was one of the most famous people in the world, recognizable everywhere, and he has movies and TV shows available for posterity. But he died in 1985, and I wager few people under the age of 40 know who he was.

And as memories of my own father fade from collective memory, I realize the best I can hope for is that 50 years from now my children have a fond memory of me.

With the advent of genealogy technology, I’m learning about relatives I never knew I had. So there is that, @zenvelo. And I sometimes think about my ancestors, even though I don’t know who they are.

Not at all. It’s not like I’d know about it anyway.

No, I wasn’t born rich. The amount of sacrifice and work isn’t worth it to make some super-family lol.

It’s enticing but too much to think about.