Does It Really Matters That We Are Here?
by SyntaxError
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date: 2024-10-01
tags: #reflections #humanism #non-tech
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Today I was reading a book and it has a footnote with a reference
to a paper. I searched for the paper and I found it on Source Forge,
and as usual in me I checked the main website. Never heard of this
project before. The site looks old and I was curious to know more.
There was a link on the footer that stated: "There is more Software
by AUTHOR NAME at his home page."
I was curious so I clicked and the site didn't load. I don't know
why but I thougt: "Probably the guy died and no one cared enought
to keep the site running". It is not a criticism. When someone dear
to you dies it's more than natural that the last thing you care
about is to keep online a web page. Maybe even if you want to keep it
online you didn't know how.
I searched the site on archive.org's wayback machine and after seeing
some of his projects I thought: "Ok, some references should be in some
place because the guy has made some relevant projects". Indeed, there
were. The guy has a mini entry on wikipedia, "necrologic" on the
Debian Project, and some references here and there. The guy is dead
as I thought and I don't know why but I felt really sorry for his
dead.
All this made me think: Does it really matters that we are here?
At the end if you were lucky enought you will have some references
here and there and nothing more. Almost all your life disappears,
all your existence. If you are lucky maybe someone can remember you
for one or two family generations and that's it. Thinking about it
closely. Even what we know about some great people of the past is
not even close to what the life of that person was.
Think about all your life until now. The games when you
were a child, the first problems, the challenges with your studies,
the first girl you thought you can't live without. Think about all
the struggles you are facing day in and day out at work, all the
struggles for paying bills, achieve goals, etc. Think about all
those goals that you achieved and all the ones that you think you
want to achieve. Think about all the negative moments and also the
positive ones.
All that is going to be lost. Many of it is lost during your
lifetime (try to remember something that seemed to be life or death
ten years ago), and the rest are going to be lost after your death.
Maybe if you make something of some relevance you can get a mini
entry on Wikipedia or even on some books, but do you really care?
Think of late Steve Jobs. There was a time that everyone talked about
him, he was important, all the media tried to sell the idea of how
great a genious he was, he was a billionare, and he died like everyone
else. Today there are few people that talk about him, that know who
he was or what he did. Yes there are books and posts about him but
I'm quite sure that the majority of youngsters who use Apple's
products doesn't know who he was and it's right that way. Life is the
way it is.
So, I keep asking to myself: Does it really matters that we are here?
All the struggles, all the bad moments, all the frustrations for
achieving what the first world try to sell to us like success, and
I realize that none of those things really matters to me. What really
matters to me is to live my life the best way I can because I only
have this chance and if I lose this chance I played myself for a fool.
So, maybe it doesn't matter at all that I'm here but what it
matters to me is living the best life I can. Struggling only for the
things that I really care about deep into myself. Be as happy as I
can, live all the experiences I'd like to live as far as I can, and
don't bother me with first world lies of success, don't bother me
because people doesn't like me, don't bother me because some people
make fun of me.
I'm going to be happier being just myself all the time and worrying
me only about the things I really care because that's the only thing
that, in the end, is going to matter. I don't care to have an entry
on Wikipedia, or ten books that mention me, but I do care to have a
nice evening with my wife.
