Life without me?

I know this may sound crazy, but I'm going to say it anyways. Have you ever been living your life, just being normal, and then wondered what would happen if you were to die right then and there? Well....I do....sometimes.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I'm not the crazy psychopath who is obsessed with death. But sometimes I just wonder what kind of legacy I'll leave behind. If I'm in my car and I nearly run off the road, I think about the newspaper story that could be published, "Girl Crashes while Driving Home." And then I think about what they'll put in the story. Will they know how loud I had my music, or what song I was listening to when I crashed? Will they dig deeper and know why I was in a hurry, or what emotions were going through my head? Or will they just assume everything or make up random facts to make it a better story? Or maybe....what if I'm not driving home? Maybe I'm riding on a bus to a volleyball tournament or I'm walking through the mall after an academic competition and then...BANG! I'm dead. What kind of story would they make up then?

Then I think that what people really thought about me would surface. Would my friends be sad that I died? Did they think I was mean and selfish and bossy, or nice and caring like I tried to be. I just have this desire to know how I will be remembered when I am no longer on this Earth.

This whole interest in the legacy I will leave behind was probably sparked by one person, Alfred Nobel. Yes, he died in the late nineteenth century so I know there's this nagging question, "How did he affect ANYthing in your life?" Well, we were in youth group one night and my youth pastor read us this story. Back in the 1800s, there was a newspaper story written about this man who had died in some sort of accident on the road. It discussed how the people responded to his death by being happy that the inventor of the destructive dynamite was finally dead. There was only one problem: the man who invented the dynamite wasn't dead. What had happened in reality was that Alfred Nobel's brother had died in the accident, but the reporter had switched the names. Once Nobel realized what the general public thought of him, he quickly worked to change his name and use his brain for the good of all people. It puts life into perspective and makes you wonder whether you're living the life that deserves a legacy.