Today, I visited Britain's National Portrait Gallery. It was quite an experience, never before had I seen so many eyes starring at me.... As I took the tube home, I began to wonder, how does one ensure that their portrait is eventually hung in the gallery? Some of the portraits were of great leaders like Winston Churchill and Margret Thacher. Others were off literary giants including; Aldous Huxley and Virginia Woolf. And still others, portrayed less famous subjects... the little known actors from throughout history, where action can mean great success and inaction can come to represent catastrophe. Does one live his life, knowing that he will be immortalized with a portrait that thousands of people will pass every day? Or conversely, are the people who are worthy of such a portrait so focused on life, they never even give their success a thought?
I am inclined to think that it is a little bit of both. While Winston Churchill labored over the decisions that helped to save Europe, I am sure he was not thinking, "hey I am pretty big at the moment, maybe I will get my portrait hung at the Gallery." Nevertheless, he must have known that he had lived a life of greatness worthy of eternal recognition. I guess that as we live our lives, we must not be burdened with thoughts of how history will remember us after we are gone, but with how we can gain the ability to leave the world just a little bit better than we found it.
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