Peace, science and other things reflected through destruction…
10 Dec 2021
Dear LPG,
As I get older, I often wonder what this world will remember me for and I can’t think of very much. At least that is what I have often thought. I often think about what others have achieved and I am left questioning just what I have to offer posterity.
I suppose that when I think of the people who will be remembered, it is what they have made or done that counts and spending years doing a job that no one is likely to remember you for is all so many of us pensioners might think that we have achieved throughout our years. Now that I am quite a way into retirement, finding a way to change the answer to this question is praying on my mind a lot more often.
It has been bothering me a bit even though I cannot think of anything that I am good enough at to be remembered for. I took a look at the internet recently to see if I could find something to work at that would earn me some sort of success. I often think of people like Alexander Graham Bell who invented the telephone or Marie Curie who made great strides in medicine, but then it occurred to me that it’s not always about academic success.
My internet research led me to look at one of the most prestigious awards that you can be offered to show that you have really done something memorable and it’s not all about being extra clever.
I suppose one set of people who will be remembered are those that have won a Nobel Peace prize. They are often won by inventers and people who have spent several years studying and experimenting with things, but not all. While physics and medicine are areas where they are awarded, you can also get one for telling a story or provoking peace in some way.
The ironic thing that I learnt when looking up the origins of the prizes is that even though one of the prize categories is for services to peace, the whole venture was made possible because of a legacy left by Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who got rich enough to leave the money to finance the idea in his will. The irony is that he is the man who invented dynamite.
I have asked LPG to post my message today because the first ever Nobel Peace prizes were awarded on this day in the year 1901 and, even though I know that I will never manage to get one of those, I am still working on making my future count by concentrating on leaving something significant for the world to remember me by.
As they say, you are never too old to try.
RB, Grove Park.
RB has some information on Alfred Nobel and his prizes…
