Your Art Will Last As Long As Anyone Needs It To (John Green Getting Me All Emotional Again)

John Green on creating art as a legacy asset (h/t Morgan and Bogumil):

One thing I find very comforting is that while someday I will not be here, my work will be around as long as anyone needs it.

And then the moment no one needs it, it won't be around anymore. My stuff will last precisely as long as the need for it lasts. Perfect. Utopian, even.

What are you making that’s actually useful? 

Now and a little later, but not a lot later?

And useful to yourself, but also to somebody else, under a condition of accepted impermanence? 

Asking these questions, thinking of Green’s quote, it’s helping me. 

There’s something about directly observing a horizon on the timeline expectations that I like.