Have you done enough to be remembered? Will you be missed?
A friend of mine lost his father two days ago, and he asked me to write the obituary and place it in the local newspaper. When I looked the next day to see whether it was there I realized what I thought was a work of art, was more or less what the others had written.
What all the obituary notices showed to some extent was that the person who died would be sorely missed.
A big construction company recently hired several cannibals.
“You are all part of our team now”, said the HR manager during the welcoming briefing. “You will get all the usual benefits and you can go to the canteen for something to eat, but please don’t eat any of the other employees”.
The cannibals promised they would not.
Four weeks later their boss remarked, “You’re all working very hard, and I’m satisfied with you. However, one of our Technical Assistants has disappeared. Do any of you know what happened to him?”
The cannibals all shook their heads indicating “no”.
After the boss had left, the leader of the cannibals said to the others, “Which one of you idiots ate the Technical Assistant?”
A hand rose hesitantly, to which the leader of the cannibals continued, “You fool!! For four weeks we’ve been eating Managers and Supervisors and no one noticed anything, but now, you had to go and eat someone who actually works!”
What about you? Will you be missed when you are gone? Imagine the cannibals ate all the managers and supervisors and no one realized they had disappeared. Could that happen to you also? It could, you know.
Are you a family member who doesn’t contribute much to decisions and income? No doubt you are a lovable person and worth a mention in the obituary column, but for how long will you be missed. One week? Two? A month?
“Do you remember Tom?”
“Who?”
“Tom, he used to work here last month?”
“Sorry, I don’t remember the fellow!”
Or it could be Jane, or Prem!
There is a wonderful song with the title, “Only remembered by the things we have done!”
Have you done enough to be remembered? Will you be missed?
