3-in-1 post on mortality...

If somebody asked me today where I would go if I could go anywhere, I think I'd bend the conventional rules of the question by answering "my own funeral."

I've not been to a ton of funerals, but the ones I have attended always bring the same thought processes to mind. I think, "how cool that this one person affected all of the people in this room." This leads into thoughts like, "I wonder how many people would show up to my funeral" and "Man, wouldn't it be cool to go to your own funeral and see who's there and what the people are saying about you?"

Part I: A Friend's Father

I just got back home from a close friend's father's funeral. It was pretty incredible. There were no less than 500 people in attendance. This man really made a big impact on the lives of countless people, and his family was blessed with the ability to be encouraged by having some of those people show up to the funeral to celebrate his life. There is no way that every single person affected by this man could have come to the funeral today. That just makes my mind reel. I seriously doubt that this man had a clue of what a weighty impact he made on so many different people, and what those people are doing today as a result of his influence on them. It's really crazy to think about. Life is so short, but that doesn't mean we can't make a difference while we're here.

Part II: A Friend I've Only Read About

You may recall my book review on Into the Wild, the story of the life of Chris McCandless, a man with whom I greatly identified. I recently got a chance to see the Sean Penn's film version of the book. Though I wasn't by any stretch of the imagine blown away by the film, it did bring back to mind thoughts I had throughout the time I was reading the book. These two thoughts in particular kept coming up: One, how fortunate is the McCandless family to have somebody (author Jon Krakauer) research their son's life in depth, that they are now able to see who he affected and how he affected them during his two years of traveling? And two, I have no doubt that Chris McCandless knew not the impact he made on the people he met as he traveled. He probably just saw them as people who were nice enough to give him a ride or a bed, but he really impacted a number of them. He only lived to see his mid-twenties, but he was (and thanks to the book, forever will be) a very influential person to many. Life is so short, but that doesn't mean we can't make a difference while we're here.

Part III: My Own Mortality

When thinking about life and death and things of that nature, I sometimes think of how I want things handled after I die, and I realize that for any of the things I want to actually materialize, I'll have to write them, well, while I still can. I see this as a good opportunity. I want my funeral to be enjoyable for the people who are gracious enough to attend it. I'm aware that the chances are pretty good that my funeral will bring people together who probably haven't seen each other in a while, and I want those people to be able to have some quality time with one another. I don't know what that looks like really. Maybe a lunch or something after the funeral. Like the funeral I attended today, I would like "It Is Well" to be sung by any of my immensely talented friends. I want every possible organ of mine to be donated to people who need them and whatever's left can be burned or whatever option cheapest. If I die before Click does I want someone to bring him to the funeral. If I die before I get married, and my remnants are cremated, I think I'd like to divide up the ashes between my family and my roommates. That way my fam could keep them somewhere, and I'd ask my roommates to scatter them on one of their awesome trips, somewhere they think I'd like. But more importantly than all of the "Things I want done after I die" list is this: I really want to live in the reality that life is so short, but that doesn't mean that I can't make a difference while I'm here.