There is at least one popular self-help book that suggests that we write our own obituary. The idea being that it's good to imagine how our life might be evaluated before it's too late to do anything about it. I keep meaning to do that.
I attended a funeral today of an old family friend. He had an interesting life, born in 1909 at the height of the Austro-Hungarian empire (in Hungary) he became a cavalry officer in that period between the wars. Sadly, he was a man born too late -- as cavalry never played a significant role after the advent of modern trench warfare (at least in Central and Western Europe).
He went through several career changes before landing here in the Seattle area, once again caring for horses. His was an encylopediac knowledge of horses, their breeding, their ailments.
We thought at the reception afterward that there are a lot worse epitaphs than "he never said a bad word about someone". I thought that it was also true that "no one had ever said a bad word about him".
A true gentlemen. We can all hope that we will be as badly missed.
Posted by artandscience at March 4, 2005 06:02 PM