Ripples in the Sea #25 #cong24 #legacy

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1. While people may leave ripples in the world, their memories often fade, particularly after a few generations.
2. Just as waves can combine, multiply, or cancel each other out, the effects of individuals can vary widely—some may create significant change, while others may fade into obscurity.
3. Knott, which serves as a pun and a metaphor for connection, showing that names can carry significant cultural and linguistic weight.
4. Its really silly having someone’s name being the basis for a legacy

A nerd who usually asks questions and changes things.

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By Will Knott

No one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away. Most people create waves and leave ripples after they are gone.

Ripples and waves are funny things. They can combine together and multiply to create a tsunami, they alter lives in devastating ways, or they can cancel each other out.

“Let no one weep for me or celebrate my funeral with mourning for I still live as I pass to and fro through the mouths of men”

Quintus Ennius

Then there is me, who is part of a change of ripples for milenia. My name has been on your lips, but never as my name. Others are named after saints and places. I’m named after a verb. My name has been a pun since 938 at least.

The name Knott is derived from the Old Norse word “knútr,” meaning “knot.” As in ties that bind. So I’m a pun on other languages too. “Knot” and “Not” being homonyms mean that a few knotwork/ not work / network jokes pop up too. The former Norse King of England, Knut or Canute is based on knútr too. Yes he was a relative. See, overshadowed already.

I’ve had to accept that the usual “selecting my name in a cocktail party” tests can’t work with me due to a bunch of false alarms. I’m very memorable, but I’m easily forgotten. I can only hope that I’m in the situation as the Transformer Rung  useful, maybe fundamentally life altering for generations, but forgettable.

I don’t care if I have a legacy. My name will only be forgotten when puns die.

My name also means that any legacy I have would be ridiculous to name after me. The Will Knott method, confuses itself in its naming. Waves cancelling each other out.

Besides, most legacies are forgotten after two generations. My great-great grandmother may have been a witch. Well, a herbal medical practitioner. But none of her recipes survived. That legacy is gone.

Unless you count children as your legacy. Can you remember your great grandparents? Or your great-great grandparents?

Unless they do something spectacular, or very stupid like trying to prove a point by ordering to turn back the tide.

P.s. The full ripple quote…

“No one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away, until the clock wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone’s life is only the core of their actual existence.”

― Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man