Recently I went to a celebration of life for a family member, and as I listened to the speakers talk about the deceased, I noticed a theme. The theme was the importance of the relationship each speaker held with the deceased.
Family members talked of her love and support, friends talked of her support. One person talked about a time in his life when he was going through a very hard time and the fact that the deceased was the only one that had faith in him and supported him.
As I talked to my nephew. after the speakers had finished, he talked about the stress of balancing family life and work. I was impressed that he was committed to putting more time into family than into work.
I talked about the generational gap, his father and I belong to a generation that allowed work to define who we were/are.
His generation has moved away from this position, which is a good thing. I am not sure if my generation were as bad as our parents for allowing work to mold, shape and identify the way we saw ourselves, but many of us still see ourselves as our job title.
At the celebration of life, no one talked about the work of the deceased, except to mention the how well she treated everyone at work, and how she stood up for the ones who could not stand up for themselves.
At the end of the day, it is our relationships, not our work that define how and by whom we are remembered. Make the relationships you have work for others in a positive manner.
Family members talked of her love and support, friends talked of her support. One person talked about a time in his life when he was going through a very hard time and the fact that the deceased was the only one that had faith in him and supported him.
As I talked to my nephew. after the speakers had finished, he talked about the stress of balancing family life and work. I was impressed that he was committed to putting more time into family than into work.
I talked about the generational gap, his father and I belong to a generation that allowed work to define who we were/are.
His generation has moved away from this position, which is a good thing. I am not sure if my generation were as bad as our parents for allowing work to mold, shape and identify the way we saw ourselves, but many of us still see ourselves as our job title.
At the celebration of life, no one talked about the work of the deceased, except to mention the how well she treated everyone at work, and how she stood up for the ones who could not stand up for themselves.
At the end of the day, it is our relationships, not our work that define how and by whom we are remembered. Make the relationships you have work for others in a positive manner.
No comments:
Post a Comment