DTH-XI-0063
“I thanked someone fully while they were still alive to hear it.”
Eulogies are love arriving too late — every warm word the dead can no longer receive. You didn't wait. You said the gratitude to a living face, and you got to watch it land. That courage to speak the warm thing in time is rare. You'll never have to whisper it to a headstone wishing you'd said it sooner.
Your Practice
- Notice how it felt to be heard. That's worth more than any eulogy.
- Find one more person who deserves the words and say them this month.
- Stop saving appreciation for funerals. The living can still hear it.
- Make 'tell them now' a standing rule. The window is always shorter than you think.
The Architects
“Do not act as if thou wert going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over thee. While thou livest, while it is in thy power, be good.”
— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book IV (George Long translation; Internet Classics Archive, MIT)