Time Makes Meaning Meaningless

Everything, in the face of time, becomes meaningless.

We work. We hope to leave a trace in the world; and that's true. Newton leaves a trace of gravity for us nowadays. Olden empires let us know their glory via history books. Who knows, what we did today, will leave a trace for our future generations? It's the aggregation of generations upon generations, building on the shoulder of our previous generations, that we have our world today.

Yet, everything, in the face of time, becomes meaningless. Things that leave trace are generally impactful, what brings to the world a greater place. What leads to that impact? Perhaps there are smaller acts that aggregates together, but not remembered. Time washed them away. Nonetheless, people may feel sad they aren't remembered; or they feel content they can make something great even if they're not remembered. Who knows?

Still, everything, in the face of time, becomes meaningless. Your trace on the world cannot act as an anchor, like God's anchor on the world, to live forever. Meaning is a many-way "thing"; seeing from the world, it's quite meaningful, it's our job to make meaning to the world so they could live in a better place. For us, before our deathbed, we could be content that we make meaning to the world. And for us, after we're totally dead, they don't have any meaning to us anymore. After all, we're gone, so what for?

P.S. It's desolate, really, to think from "time makes things meaningless" perspective. When you really knows the truth, you might become lazy, or... you may work for the now. For, if we don't have an anchor while we're still in this world, what makes us? And we won't have a future, for not every animals are capable of passing down stories through generations, after they're long dead.

And, everything, in the face of time, becomes meaningless. You have a fight with your wife/husband today. You broke a friendship. You owe someone money. Or maybe, you have an ambition of building an empire. And note: the ambition is only meaningful if you're still alive; so when you're not alive, someone pluck the fruit from a tree you plant. Selfish? No. After all, "ambition" is the ultimate selfishness.

And for other situations on relationship and friendship? Why do we feel sad years, decades, after we break away? Because love towards your spouse/friends are so strong that you can't put it down. Yet, think! Everything, in the face of time, becomes meaningless. Your sadness for years are meaningless. Your feelings not reciprocate are meaningless. Your feelings not heard are meaningless. For sadness breeds sadness, deprived you from doing anything else when you're in the dead loop. Only do you understand that they're meaningless can you escape the loop, and try to make meaning of it.

And last but not least, all meaning are temporary. For our life, 70 years maybe, or 80 years, maybe 100 years centenarians, bears no difference to how long the universe had lived (13.7 Billion years!!!), and the years ahead the universe yet to live. So long that old stars dies of age, what says us, or even our civilization?!

So everything, in the face of time, is meaningless.