A very good friend of mine died of cancer August 25, 2002.
When my friend died, she left behind an Internet web site. It was one of her last wishes to see the site carry on after she was gone. While preparing for the enivitable, I tried to make certain plans on her behalf, but since I was a stranger to her family, my pleas were not heard.
After the funeral, things calmed down enough for the family to help me rebuild her web site. It didn't have everything her old site had, but enough so that it would be a fitting memorial. The family agreed to pay the bills to keep the web site active for one year, then decide what to do at the end of the year.
On March 7, 2003, the bill came due from the Internet company handling her web site. The family decided not to pay the $348.
My friend's web site will go dark after only seven months.
I was talking about this with another friend, and I made the comment, "All graves get walked on eventually."
That sentiment has been bouncing around in my brain for many years, but now comes forward with full force once again. We all die. After we die, it is only a matter of time before we are forgotten.
No one is to blame. Even the most bereft of families have mortgages to pay, children to feed, cars to fix. Life happens.
If we are lucky, a few of us get a monument, and maybe some publicity surrounding our death. Princess Diana's family would wish some of that publicity would go away.
One way or the other, fame is fleeting, and over time, even Diana will be forgotten. Oh, it won't be her fault - life happens. World crises after world crises clamours for front page attention. Scientific discoveries tumble out of laboratories. Daredevils reach new heights of achievement. A butterfly flaps it wings in China, and a storm cloud rolls thorugh Kansas. The world goes on.
Still, I can't help thinking about my friend's grave.