A life's work down the drain?

I want to discuss how a life’s worth can be diminished after the life has ended, and to what extent this can happen. Take for example the Venice preserver we discussed in class. There is a man whose life goal is to preserve Venice. He works for his entire adult life to achieve this goal. He dies and Venice is destroyed years later. Even though Venice is destroyed in the end, after his death, he still worked to preserve it. He still had the satisfaction of knowing that he tried. Also, Venice’s demise does not negate the fact that he did actually this work. People may say he failed, that his work lead to nothing and that a main aspect of his life is now found to have been meaningless, but still he worked for it. He did what it was he wanted to do and cared about: He attempted to save Venice. This may diminish his life's value, as his work ultimately did not lead to his goal of the preservation of Venice, and if he were alive he would probably feel rather downtrodden (to put it lightly), but it does only mar his life slightly. He still tried his hardest to do something he believed in and cared about; therefore his life still has great meaning and value. He would still have been happy that he had tried to save Venice, even if it did not work out in the end. It is not only the end result that matters; it is the effort and the journey taken to achieve the goal that matters.