Leaving Our Mark on the World

People plant trees in honour of those who have passed, they buy stars in the name of their loved ones, streets and buildings are named after politicians, artists or great social leaders. What is with our obsession with owning the world and all its lands and buildings?

I suppose in some ways it is done to honour or remember the people we love, to acknowledge the contributions of the world's great leaders and thinkers, and to leave our mark.

A family, spouse or group of friends might choose to plant a tree or build a bench in a spot their loved one enjoyed sitting in. Maybe they went there to think or clear their head and now that they're gone their loved ones can go and do the same.

Looking up to a night sky full of stars is not only beautiful and calming but completely mesmerising and in many ways, romantic. To have a star named after you means that when someone is staring up into the heavens they might be looking at you. They might be thinking of you, whether you're together at that moment or not.

There have been people throughout history who have made huge contributions to the development and progress of the world. Perhaps their contribution was a technological invention that helped advance our progress in medicine or agriculture, or perhaps they led a group of minorities out of oppression and towards equal rights. These people deserve recognition. They deserve to be studied in history and to be remembered in the cities where they were from or did their most work. Relevant naming would be something to the effect of, naming a school library after an author or English Literature professor at the school.

There are many reasons to plant trees for good or social purposes. You might plant one in celebration of an occasion. Trees also represent life, and might be worth planting to celebrate your new marriage, or to honour a friend's marriage. Trees are often planted to offset our carbon footprints or to just generally contribute to the well-being of the environment.

Of course, large donators also have a lot of things named after them. What do you think you would have to named after you or planted, created, assigned in your honour? A star, a tree, a bench, a building or maybe nothing at all? Maybe you're one of those people who makes anonymous donations and doesn't like too much attention in general.


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