Saturday, December 26, 2009

Speak Well Of, Etymologically Speaking

I have decided to write my own eulogy. I don't want to leave something so important to somebody else; it's a sort of "if you want something done right" sort of thing. Some people might say that you can't write write your own eulogy but that of course is nonsense. Everybody does it. In fact, that's what people spend their whole lives doing. Granted, someone else is usually responsible for a succinct idealized summary, but the raw material is autobiographical.

I should clarify though. When I said that I was going to write my own eulogy, I meant the succinct, idealized summary. This isn't some sort of preparation for death, but rather for living. The problem with life is that there's no dress rehearsal. So far I've been ad-libbing my lines which works to a point, but if I want to look back upon my life with few regrets I'm going to need a script. Of course life throws too many curve balls to script exactly so my eulogy is going to be a script of values.

For example, when I'm dead I want people to look back on my life and say, "I really admire how Ed always gave his best effort, no matter what the task." Of course if I died today nobody who knew me would say that. That's why I want to write this eulogy. I'll be able to see my values written out so I can live them.

Here's another example. "Man Ed was a great uncle!"

I gotta go. My nephew is calling me! (I'll write the eulogy later.)