Sharon Kennedy: How will we be remembered?
Like many of you I, too, hoped our disgraced former president would take a back seat during the holidays and give us a break. I should have known better. When does a blowhard ever relinquish the spotlight? Never, that’s when or at least not until the undertaker has sealed the casket and it’s been lowered into the ground. I suppose even then the area surrounding the gravesite will give off an unpleasant aura. There’s a cemetery in a town near me where some of the dead are not at rest. I drove through it many years ago. As I rounded a section near the cliff, I sensed an atmosphere of evil and quickly got out of there. I’ve never returned.
It’s my theory that when we pass our spirit remains. Scripture says it’s the spirit that gives life and the flesh counts for nothing. So if a person has a wicked spirit, where does it go when the body is committed to the grave or the ashes to an urn? This might be an odd topic to discuss, but as we come to the end of the year, it’s a good time to take stock of who we are and how others will remember us.
I don’t understand the benefit of acting like a spoiled brat unless in some bizarre way a person thinks the time is right for strong men to regain control and snuff out the peasants. That’s what the average working person has become. We don’t want to admit it, but we who pay taxes are serfs for the mega-rich. Most billionaires simply can’t be bothered with something as insignificant as paying taxes. And unlike robber barons of the past, the majority aren’t even civic minded. What do they build that will benefit mankind? Museums? Libraries? Concert halls?
Maybe they do spend their billions wisely. I don’t know, but I’m sure someone will enlighten me. I thank you in advance, but I think I got off track. The question I posed was about being remembered once we’re no longer around to contest anything negative said about us. Excuse me for bringing up Trump, but I wonder what his family will say at his funeral. Will they praise him for setting a positive example of how a man should treat people less rich than himself? Will they say he was a good man who went off the rails due to the influence of his father, Roy Cohen, Roger Stone or Steve Bannon? That without these men Donald would have been an outstanding humanitarian?
How will history remember his reign? Silly me. I forgot that history books are written by people who give their interpretation of events which may or may not be the truth. Since Kellyanne Conway coined the phrase “alternative facts,” truth no longer matters. Opinions will inform future generations of events that happened when her ex-boss began testing the presidential waters during Obama’s years in office. Trump was given free time on cable networks from the moment he brought up the “birther” question. To this day, he continues to be the main attraction for news commentators. It’s as if nothing is worth reporting except Trump’s next trick.
So how will he be remembered when he’s finally gone? How will you or I or will we be forgotten five minutes after we’re dead? All things considered, that’s not so bad. I’d rather be forgotten than remembered as the person who destroyed our Constitution and democracy.
— To contact Sharon Kennedy, send her an email at authorsharonkennedy.com. Kennedy's new book, "View from the SideRoad: A Collection of Upper Peninsula Stories," is available from her or Amazon.
This article originally appeared on The Sault News: Sharon Kennedy: How will we be remembered?
