Today’s CBS Sunday Morning featured an interesting segment on obituaries. What stuck in my mind were the words of New York Times writer Jan Hoffman. Among Hoffman’s assignments was writing 75 obituaries, among the thousands that were done, for the people who lost their lives on 9/11. Those write-ups ran every day for three and a half months under the headline of Portraits of Grief.
“Every time I look at the Portraits of Grief, a question I ask myself is: What would mine say?” Hoffman said. “How would you capture your life in 200 words? What would the people who love you say about you?”
It’s a daunting question when you think about it: Two hundred words to encapsulate a life. I think we’re all hopeful that it will include that we made meaningful contributions to society, had a positive impact on others and that we were a good spouse, good friend, good son or daughter.
It made me consider the things I read in The Art of Non-Conformity–how do I spend my time, how can I change the world and what will my legacy be.
Curious about what 200 words looks like? It’s the length of this post…
