Saturday, February 23, 2013

anonymous donors


































An anonymous donor.

In other words, all of us with the passage of time.

I sometimes ask my students whether they know of any of the persons associated with the scores of  names posted all over campus--on benches; over door frames; on buildings.   No student has ever heard of any of these persons.  Most students literally never noticed those names; they were invisible.  Virtually all of these markers memorialize former students, now deceased, who like the students I address once felt at home here and who surely found it unfathomable that they, too, would soon be forgotten.  

4 comments:

Christy said...

Well this is cheery.

Mike Bailey said...

Haha!

No, it wasn't all that cheery when I wrote it, though I wasn't even down. Just telling a story. But now with your comment the post is funny, a comedy. A maudlin monologue turned into a hilarious comedy.

"Death death death."

"Guh. You're killing me here."

And THAT is comedy.

I'm going to tell Juli about your response (and the original post, which I doubt she's read) and we're both going to roar with laughter.

Christy said...

Okay fine I'll be deep...

We only care about being remembered when we are alive. George Washington's remains take no more joy in people knowing who he was when they visit D.C. than John Doe's remains do when someone sits on the bench named after him on campus. Once your gone - whether you were famous, infamous or anonymous doesn't matter any more.

Mike Bailey said...

Yep. I agree.