Dear LPG readers, 

I am not trying to start your day with a really depressing thought, but I cannot help but think that, as we get older it is inevitable that we are going to start to think about the significance of our lives and what we have brought to this world during our stay. 

There are our children of course, but time has a habit of reminding us that they are their own people and in the end once we have got them past puberty, our job is more or less done.  I think that so many of us think that growing up, the years of study followed by work, getting our own children sorted and retiring does not count for much when you measure it against the achievements of all those really famous inventors, politicians, media personalities and what have you. 

But in years to come, while our children and grandchildren that are around during our lifetime will remember a bit about our character, sense of humour and how serious a person we were, few of us are likely to feel that our lives will go down in history as having been responsible for the development of a scientific, literary, musical, or artistic contribution to the world’s development.

When you look back at life as a whole, it is very easy to sum yours up in a sentence or two but, if you are anywhere near being old enough to be a pensioner, there have to have been a fair number of years which deserve a lot more commentary than that. 

It is ironic that while so many older people feel that their lives could be summed up in a few sentences, they would tell that the thought of writing that story down would be much too big a job for them, but if we just start by talking about our favourite bits, the stories of the days that really stand out, would be much more manageable.  

In these days when you can record things without even having to write them down, and where a tape recorder or video camera can easily be alternatives to pen and paper, telling bits of your story in that way will leave more than just the facts.

So many of us spend time and money tracing our ancestors with the help of computers these days, but I hope that perhaps leaving some of our stories will bring us back to life in their eyes when our great grandchildren are doing the same thing in a few generations’ time. 

DW, Sydenham.