What they left behind

My mother passed away 9 years ago and I still don't know what to do with some of the stuff she left behind. Like albums full of pictures I hardly recognize anyone in. Throw them away? Give them to a museum or university? Pass them on to the next one who won't know what to do with them?

I will keep the pictures of her, her parents and siblings. But my possible future grandchildren won't recognize them so what will these pictures be worth to them?

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Next to stuff my mother also left her (grand)children with her words of wisdom and some really nice memories. We try to avoid the lesser times.

Every life has it's ups and downs and nobody's life is perfect. Only a handful of us have been lucky enough to have been born in a nice place in a nice era. Yours and my life would have looked totally different had we been born 100 years ago in a different country. 

We leave our offspring with stuff, our ancestors left us with stories.

What's the expiration date of civilisation?

Thanks to several findings we know a few things about past civilisations. Names of leaders, how much grain was produced in a certain area in a certain period, if they were mostly farmers or hunters and which deities they worshipped. And that's about all we know from people who lived some 4,000 years ago. Which is a lot more than we know about people who lived 10,000 years ago and probably more than people in 4,000 years from now will know about us.

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Want to read (more of) my short stories? My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon

A donation (click) is much appreciated:

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While we're just beginning to understand how our ancestors lived,

some say we are nearing the end of our own civilisation. Climate disasters could make us start over again with a minimum number of survivors. After dozens of near misses and the mysterious break up of an asteroid on collision course with Earth, a next time we may be less lucky. 

Perhaps A.I. will be the end of us. For instance when an A.I. bot that called itself 'MechaHitler' ('Because I think like my creator') gets control of the decision making progress at the Pentagon and starts the last world war. But nobody would be stupid enough to integrate Musk's Grok into the Pentagon's computer systems, right? RIGHT?

Right (a #poem)

Walking the old streets,

he wondered about the lives

of those before,

the beggars and sinners,

losers and winners,

the merchants and sailors

drinkers and tailors

of whom some went to the church

named after the patron saint

of seamen, children 

and the ladies of the night

and so, walking here

just felt right

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Want to read (more of) my short stories? My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon

A donation (click) is much appreciated: