Since modern history, we have officially had two thousand and seventeen years on the planet. And if we do the maths, with the wild assumption that each generation have lived an average of 100 years....that means we have had 20.17 generations. Over 20 generations of people have walked this earth.
That's quite a lot.
A whole lot of history behind us.
Generations of people who were not too different. They went to a kind of school (formal or informal), they organised themselves into communities, they paid for goods and services, they got married and gave out their children in marriage. These people had friends....went together for evening drinks, for ceremonial occasions & even things as trivial as taking a stroll. Some had elitist jobs while some were peasants. There were a couple of bourgeois and the masses. At each point in time there was a richest man on the planet and there were individuals who wielded so much influence that they were called most powerful in the world. And on the flip side, they were a host of people who were just ordinary men.
All of these people had needs. Need for food, drink, Sex, esteem amongst others. Our needs today may take another colour but it is no different.
This understanding can therefore lead us to 3 insights:
* Life is not forever -- it has a span and death is sure;
* We are not the first inhabitants of the planet (neither are we going to be the last), so let's manage and preserve it well so the others (generations ahead) can have a place they call home;
* While we remember some of the folks who lived by virtue of their impact and contributions, we have zero idea whether some of their contemporaries even came on the Planet.
The fact is, Nelson Mandela had people in his class in High school. Michael Faraday went to the same church with some people. Mother Theresa had siblings. Albert Einstein had friends. These guys did not live alone....but we remember them today above the others, because of the legacy they left behind.
The takeaway is, it may be 2017 today, but 2117 is not too far away. Will the coming generation remember you and if at all they do, what would be the content of such history?
Think about it!