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I attended a memorial service today, for someone I hardly knew. His family was wealthy and full of energy and passion and creativity. At the service folks wore nice clothes, and were pleasant and polite. Nice food was served in a scenic setting, beautiful music played, and idealistic speeches given, talking about family, dedication, caring, bonding, and intelligence. It was noted, for example, that he did the crossword puzzle daily, in ink.
Such services seem designed to affirm the shared far values of attendees, and to affirm the status of those who achieve such values. But the idea of service like the one I attended appeals less to me, since I put less weight on the values it affirmed. So what kind of service might better affirm the values I hold high, raising the status of people like me who most affirm those values?
Well one thing I value greatly is insight. So I’d like it if service attendees would each share an insight they’d had that day, or perhaps in the last week. Anything about themselves or the world around them they hadn’t quite understood as clearly before.
Another thing I value is honesty. So I’d like it to be clear to everyone that they need not say only nice things about the deceased. Finally, I value grand ambition, so I’d like folks to talk about how exactly they hope to have a huge impact on the world.
Of course mostly I hope to never die, or at least to put it off for as long as possible.
My Funeral
Sometimes at funerals I find the deceased completely different to the person I knew. The complaining, trudging little woman evidently loved to dance and kept everyone laughing. The sour. tight faced curmudgeon had an amazing sense of humor.
I find also that often I learn something about the dead I wish I had known before so I could have talked to him about it.
Obviously funerals should be held long before death so the person can either live up to the accolades or have more interesting conversations.
Grand ambition is dishonesty.
You cannot be honest and insightful and have grand ambition. If you look honestly at the world and have insight into yourself and the world around you then you will know that you are probably not one of the few rare individuals that can achieve anything grand. You are most likely just another everyday person who will be little known outside his circle of acquaintances.
Insight and honesty lead to weltschmerz when you realize exactly how worthless and unimportant your life is.
Grand ambition is dishonesty.