We’ve all heard of the living will, the document that describes what you want to happen medically in the unfortunate event of being on life support and unable to communicate your wishes. But how about a living obituary? A document of your life, what you thought was the defining essence of you, and what you want your family and loved ones to know about you in the unfortunate, but inevitable, event of your death?
Now of course you would most likely have to go back and revise it quite a few times over the course of your life, but wouldn’t that just allow you to examine yourself, your ideas and your choices, over time? Perhaps lend some sense of continuity to an existence that at times seems insubstantial and ephemeral?
Here’s what I want the public to remember about me:
While I have made many mistakes over the course of my lifetime, and offended many people, I stood firm behind those decisions I made that were made out of caring and love, or in defense of others who could not (and indeed may still not be able to) raise their voices for fear of persecution.
I was not a perfect man. I would have said that no one man is perfect. I tried my best to make up for my mistakes by loving freely, giving friendship, counseling and succor to any I met who needed it. It was my sincerest hope that I succeeded in that goal.
I learned about the idea of a living obituary from a very interesting blog, and you can read about the personal journey that led to the idea here.
for those of you who want to copy and paste it yourselves, the web address is
The Blog For Everything by Arthur 