What will they say about you when you die?
You read the
obits. Famous people die and other famous people say nice things. I’ve
interviewed two Presidents and a bunch of famous people, but I’m thinking none
of them will remember me and have anything nice to say to an obit writer. So we’re
left with that rather sterile obit listing our jobs and a few noteworthy
accomplishments, maybe how generous we were, or how we helped something
somewhere, or that we were wonderful parents and husbands. I’m divorced, so I’m
guessing I won’t get that “wonderful husband” line in my obit. Newspapers have
notes and files all ready to be turned into wonderful obituaries should said
well-known person pass away. They also have obituary writers whose skills have
been honed for years writing about all kinds of people.
Of course there’s a big
difference between an obit writer at The New York Times and your average local
paper, but local people read local obituaries. The obituaries and police
blotter are two biggies for readers locally. We want to see which neighbors
died and which ones got arrested. The other biggie locally is the listing of
mortgage and warranty deeds, because we want to see how much our neighbors got
when they sold their houses.
But then there are those obituaries, the final
statement on our lives. Does it matter that we gave to the local food bank, or
sent footballs to Toys for Tots every year, or gave our leftover pizza to the
homeless guy instead of taking it home, or maybe paid for a meal of some
strangers? Of course it does, and that’s what makes us in the end.
Maybe in the
end we hope the obit writer will quote someone who says, “He was a nice guy.”
