Pyramids

“Dig a hole and chuck me in it.” Say a good few that do not wish money to be spent on them when they go. Use it on the living. When the time comes the families rarely heed that wish as they think it is a bit mean and feel ashamed if a decent funeral is not carried out. Some with an image to maintain have a headstone commissioned and the really well off get placed inside a large tomb. As the years pass the stone gradually deteriorates and gets covered in lichen making the engraved letters barely readable. The headstone tilts and sinks into the earth until one day it falls over completely, with or without a kick from a bored youth, and becomes subsumed by nature.

The rise and fall of things we create follow the same pattern. We forge a song or write a poem and it gets heard by a number of people before disappearing into obscurity. Some people have grand ideas about their creations, believing that they will last as long as a pyramid and make an equally huge impression. We have a hope that our name, our reputation, our soul will carry on for eternity. Other people are content with doing something so that the next generation do not have to suffer in the same way as they did. We can feel we have done enough if our children and grandchildren are thriving. However, some do not like the idea that all trace of us soon goes once we take our final breath. When all living relatives die too, we are not even in the memory of anyone anymore. Only historians with masses of time to kill will leaf through the files to get a glimpse of what we did and who we were.

We write, film, document and paint away hoping to create some sort of notoriety. This is all fine and dandy for a short while whilst alive, but legacies are over estimated. It is not the contribution to science, the addition to the sum of knowledge that grates. Not at all, as this allows us to progress in our capabilities as a species. But it is the perversity of wanting to legitimise a sense of individual lofty distinction.

I liken the difficulty trying to define what art is to the difficulty working out why some gain more prominence than others. It is for neither the lack of trying, nor lack of talent but for a slight air of novelty which captures the imagination that not even luck can provide. The first person to stake the claim, the initial innovator has the most prominence. If you devised a new way to spread paint on a surface, it gets noted. Nevertheless, we pay the most attention to what they did rather than care about the essence of the person behind it.

We can have a living legacy, one where we get to be congratulated on multiple occasions and invited to parties where adoring fans applaud you. A subject hits the news; we talk about it for a bit then move on to the next topic of conversation. For no discernible reason, someone’s profile is raised leaving others in their wake. This can annoy those that wish to be in their place. They will see you take centre stage and think it is a wasted opportunity to do so much more with the attention that you are receiving. If you try giving everyone a slot in the spotlight, we need to accept that such a timeslot would be very thin indeed.

There are some sports where all the top players are superstars. Yet in a different sport equally talented people are relative unknowns. There are accidental celebrities, ones that find themselves in the maelstrom unintentionally. Then there are those with a message who need to get it out to all and many, for their pearls of wisdom are far more relevant than yours and mine. Worse still, some want their face recognised the world over, simply to get that empty feeling when you reach the top. Being a ‘very-important-person’ is so much more virtuous than giving each and every person equal validity. It allows us to jump the queues and get the most comfortable vantage points. Only the dumb will bow and wow. I have myself pressed people for an autograph, when I need them to sign a cheque. I suppose the one key advantage to being well known is the ability to be heard when you have a problem.