HOW WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER ? NOT I SAID THE WOLF
Recently I have been seeing allot of people making video’s about Legacy. Gary Vaynerchuck talks about Legacy allot in his videos series DailyVee. As a kid I remember Michael Jackson’s Black or White Video being released on Top of The Pops and everybody I knew stayed in to see this massive event in pop history, that would have been in 1991, a Legacy built up by Michael Jackson since 1968 as a ten year old member of the Jackson 5.
Michael passed away in 2009 at the age of 50, he was once the most famous person in the world. One of very few living Legends of the past 100 years, Muhammad Ali, Princess Diana and Steven Hawkins being a few I can really take on board as ‘Living Legends’. Most Legends come after death unfortunately, and usually an untimely demise.
This got me thinking about how futile it is to chase Legacy. In trying to become a ‘Legend’ you are in fact sacrificing a life for the desperate need to life forever. The sad sad truth is this, no one will be remembered forever and even Michael Jackson, Ali and Steven Hawkins will be forgotten in time. Spending your hole life trying to become a ‘Legend’ in the hope that you are never forgotten really makes me feel sad for people such as Gary Vaynerchuck. For these people nothing is ever enough, the love and expectance of their close love ones is never enough to fill that gaping void in them, and deep down they know that in the end it truly is Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust.
Instagram, Facebook and all social media platforms are, it seems, an outward expression of our desperate need to be seen and remembered. I worked with a former pop star of a very well known Boy Band in Europe on his documentary, he was so afraid of being forgotten about he would do the most bizarre things to get in the papers whilst spouting how he didn’t need fame and how it is all fake. Well son, actions speak louder than words. He even called the documentary “Invisible”
The need for ever lasting mortality and Legacy is a desperate fight against one’s inevitable fade over time. Those who truly love you and really know you will always carry a piece of you with them through out history, and surely it is healthier for that to be enough. Sure, create and build things for the enjoyment of doing so and the experience of having done it but doing it for Legacy and Fame will only lead you down a dead end.
Who wants to live forever? Not I said the wolf , after all the Legend belongs to the story teller not the characters within.