Glory

As Napoleon once stated, “Glory is fleeting. But obscurity is forever.”  

Fame, like Glory, can be fleeting, and the famous and infamous can be left in obscurity rapidly. For proof of this, take a walk in any large urban cemetery catering to the well-to-do. Look at the grand monuments commemorating the famous of their day. Most often, the question that will come to mind is, “Who the hell was he ( or she)?”

Famous today and unknown tomorrow might best be the epitaph for most of the people who rapidly gain it. They are like the old clothes in the back of your closet. When new, they were in style and looked good. Now that sweater, the suit, and the shoes are contributions you’re making to a local charity.

So enjoy your fling with Glory and Flame if you are lucky enough to have one. But remember that it may very well be fleeting. Yes, you may have developed a new technique for doing something essential. But your name has been forgotten, except for an obscure footnote in an obscure entry on Wikipedia.

Tomorrow, you’ll still have the breakfast dishes to wash. Some things never change.