“When this you see remember me
And leave me in your mind.
Let all the world say what they may.
Speak of me as you find.” — BRIAN JONES, Rolling Stones


Deep down, all of us wonder what people will think about us when we are gone. Only Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn got to hear it in person, when they sneaked into their own funeral.

Unless you can figure out a way to do what they did, you will never know your legacy. But you can do more than just wonder about it — you can create it.

This classic line from Hollywood Squares star Paul Lynde can give you an idea. Host Peter Marshall asked him this question: “In what state was Abraham Lincoln born?” Lynde took his comic pause then said, “In what state? Like all of us, naked and screaming.”

Behind the laughter, Lynde had left a deep truth. All of us share so much. We all need food, water, sleep, bathrooms and attention (hence the screaming). And we all love to be heard. Every bumper sticker proves it. It lets drivers say what’s on their mind, as in “Jersey girls don’t pump gas.”

And here your legacy comes in. Everybody wants to tell their story — but not as many people want to hear it. Demi Moore got to tell hers at the 2025 Golden Globe awards in accepting the Female Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Award for “The Substance.” Millions of people heard it.

“Thirty years ago,” she said, “I had a producer tell me that I was a popcorn actress and, at that time, I made that mean that this wasn’t something that I was allowed to have … that I could do movies that were successful that made a lot of money but that I couldn’t be acknowledged. And I bought in and I believed that.”

Moore did more than inspire millions of people. She told them how to be remembered. Most people talk. You can listen. That person you’re with doesn’t need millions to hear. They just need one — you.

When someone wonders if they’re allowed to dream, your ear can say more than any words. Your attention can coax out greatness that has been aching to show. And maybe decades from now someone will earn something they never thought they could.

As for Brian Jone’s invitation to “Speak of me as you find,” he died in 1969 (two years to the day before Jim Morrison). His epitaph appears on the gatefold for the Rolling Stones album “Through the Past, Darkly.” We can say that he left music that will haunt generations, as in his work on alto recorder in “Ruby Tuesday.” He also destroyed himself with drugs. Those two things have fixed his legacy.

You can still create yours. You can start by listening with care.