Yes, I read the obituaries. It started several years ago, after my husband’s forty year old uncle passed away. I peruse each person on the page, not looking for someone I know necessarily, but absorbing their life story wrapped up in a paragraph or two. I am intrigued by their education history, interests, surviving family, and the thoughtful tone each one exudes. I question the ones that are short only sharing the arrangements. Wondering if it was merely the cost of publication or simply a dismissal. Those words written on the page are the last bit of that person. Some are eloquent and full of flowery words describing their loved one, others are simply a list of their accomplishments, still I wonder. Do the words justify the person? You would never see an obituary full of negative comments about the person. They could have been a despicable soul, but still there will be warm words flowing on the page.
That brings me to my point. It is so easy to talk poorly about someone when they are alive, but isn’t it interesting that when people pass away, they are put on a pedestal? All the negative things that have tainted their life are erased. No one will talk ill of the dead. As I continue to read the obituaries, I will still wonder and be mindful of my words to the living.
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