I know that this comment will sound flip and dismissive. I truly don't mean it that way. But:

"Who will finish our story?"

I ask, who cares?

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I believe that we are made up of reactions. Biology, chemistry, electricity - we are powered by atoms, electrons, neutrons, basic impulses. I do not really believe that any part of us continues on after our body, our housing, wears out. By my logic it can't - if our consciousness really is as simple as a product of what our body does, of synapses firing and nerves responding, then there is no reason, in fact no way, that it could continue beyond the mechanisms that create it.

I find this reassuring.

Not all people do. I don't know if it's "most" or "some," I just know that many people hear this and say "That's depressing - to think that once our body dies, that is it," (flick your fingers for dramatic flair, perhaps) "our existence ceases." Many people care about legacy, progeny, history, memory - about whether they will last longer than their current iteration of consciousness in their current body, or not.

That's okay. I understand that you may want what I don't want, and so on. I am not offended. It is okay, even reasonable, for you to want some things that I do not. A lot of people want to feel that their death is not their end. I get that they want it and can even see why. But it's not what I believe, it's not what makes me feel at peace, it's not a belief I find supported, sensical, or, for me, positive.

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I don't care who will finish 'our story' - humanity's, I believe is what we are driving at. The story of humanity and how it ended. I tell you what, if anyone finishes it, it won't be a human. By definition it can't.

I don't care what our story is. I have little to no control over that. And why be arsed to care about people living millenia in the future that I will never know, that may be complete aliens in fact? Why bother caring what the future may think of us? I cannot control billions.

I care that if anyone wants to finish my story and tell it to others, that they can tell a good, respectable, honorable, but humane, passionate, and fulfilled, one. I care that my story, such as it is or can be that, is the best one that I can live, and follows my ideals, morals and beliefs as consistently as I can manage. I care that if anyone speaks of me after my death they have more good to offer up than bad.

I cannot control who tells 'my story,' or 'humanity's story.' I cannot control their lens, and sometimes people will paint you as a villain no matter what. If someone were to do that I could not stop them.

But what would satisfy me would be if I knew their complaints were spurious, false, or otherwise wrong. And I can only control the truth of what they say about me by living it well, by being a good person. If I want our story to be a good one I have to live as well as possible, and because of my beliefs, I feel I have only this one lifetime to do it.

It is not, " who will finish our story?" but "would it be a good one?" that I care about. And I can only control the small, small part of that story that would be mine, if ever anyone cared enough to spin humanity into one.

I can't control the story of humanity and if I make even an impact on it I will be a lucky one. I can only control my life, and my part of it.