Who has a legacy anyway and why would a normal person expect to have one? A tailor's clothes get worn out, a farmer's food is eaten, the cook's dish eaten, the hotel cleaner's "output" gets messy again, the architect's apartment block torn down etc.

Who has a true legacy outside a small minority of philosophers, artists, scientists and political leaders?

I think even the idea of having a tombstone is a sort of legacy. People made cave-paintings to leave something behind. We all want to cling to existence somehow and want to leave a mark on world when we leave. The simplest way maybe is to have children, so your gene would live on after you.

> We all want to cling to existence somehow and want to leave a mark on the world when we leave.

Not everyone wishes to leave a mark on the world after we are gone. There are entire philosophical branches dedicated to the idea of embracing mortality and accepting that which makes us human.

I feel like that's just a way to cope with the horror of death.

Naturally, but it's also a way to approach death if you don't consider it a horror.

One can embrace mortality while also wishing to leave a positive mark on the world.

Most of the paintings get lost, even sometimes masterpieces.

Bloodlines die out or change enough to not be recognizable.