diamonds are forever
I read something a couple of days ago, that basically stated this:
"Do you realize that the Pyramids have been here for thousands of years? Will your blog be? Of course not".
Heavy paraphrasing there, and, completely breaking all netiquette (or whatever else it's called these days), I don't have a link. Because this bit of insight didn't originate from any of the blogs I subscribe to, rather was shared by someone I follow in Google Reader. And I didn't star it, as I usually do, because at the time I wasn't planning on writing about this.
But here I am.
So.
OMG dude your blog(s) will be history pretty soon, nothing you write or do will be around in a couple of thousand years, how sad is that? Let's all cry.
Umm...
So what?
What is it with people's fascination for everlasting things? Everlasting man-made things, specifically. What is it with the constant desire (and push) to create something that 'will last, son' - you know, the least you can do is build a house (as if you're really doing that yourself), plant a tree, that sort of thing.
As always, I think it's an ego thing. Specifically, a bunch of ego-maniacs (Twitter celebs, you know who you are) desperate to be worth(y) (of) anything.
And please stop with the Pyramids. I've had enough for a good thousand years. Look around a bit more.
Seriously, do you want, say, Twitter to still exist in a thousand years?
I know I don't. If I had my way, it wouldn't exist today, but then I'm not a Silicon Valley early-adopter/influencer, and I don't go to all the cool conferences to rub noses with other influencers like me so we can perpetually influence one another, B-movie celebs in desperate need of attention and CNN.
Oh wait. Spot a trend there? Desperate need for attention.
Ok, so that explains Twitter (which, by the way, I've embraced - not because Jaiku isn't better, but because unlike the aforementioned net celebs, I don't enjoy talking to myself in an empty dark room). But what about 'do another pyramid, son'?
I have no idea. It probably has something to do with how lowly we think of ourselves (at an individual level, not as a group or species).
Yes. Because in spite of appearances, all the bragging does not come from thinking highly of oneself, but rather from the fear of actually being nothing. And not noteworthy in any way.
I don't want anything to last thousands of years. I want anything to last exactly until something better comes along and replaces or enhances it.
Standing in the Shanghai World Financial Center's Observatory (the highest observation deck in operation in any man-made structure in history) and looking down from 474m to the clouds above Shanghai, I have to tell you, I couldn't care less about the Pyramids.
And if that building isn't there tomorrow, I don't care. If you do, you missed the point.
Cherish yourself and what is around you now. But first, start noticing. And stop being amazed at antiques. The world has evolved from their point of creation till the moment you're staring at them, and you're missing all of it.
So go to Shanghai, or to Dubai if they ever finish the Burj Dubai. And look around, while you're standing on man-made glass at that height. And be amazed. Then. For one moment.
Then move on to the next.
Keep moving on to the next, keep evolving. It's what we do anyway, but it would happen a lot faster if we wouldn't stop and think about the Pyramids every 2 seconds.
Do whatever you like. If it won't be here tomorrow, it means you've evolved into someone that probably doesn't like the exact same thing anymore. Hence, your creation(s) not being there = a good thing for your present being.
Not being tied to the past always is.
And a final note to the author of the paraphrase I started from: there's this sick little thing called the Internet Archive, perhaps you should pay it a visit at some point.
