English Course Assignment 2 - Funeral

English Course Assignment 2 - Funeral

What Do I Want People to Say about Me at My Funeral

People usually had an ambitious goal at an early age. So did I. When I was in my childhood, I wished I could be accomplished and even be remembered by the whole world. It may sound ridiculous now. But when I was a little child, the world was so small for me and I knew not a bit about what kind of difficulties I had to go through to achieve the goal.

It was not until the death of my grandmother four years ago that I realized how short the life was. In China, we always burn the eulogy and some paper money for the dead in the Tomb-sweeping Day and the Ghost Festival. (To be honest, I think the translation is terrible. These two festivals have beautiful names in Chinese.) When I was burning the eulogy for my grandmother last year, I saw many people burning things for their dead relatives too. All the fire seemed to light up the memories we held. Suddenly I realized that these memories would not last long. When we were all gone, the memories would disappear together with us.

For most people in the world, they cannot be remembered long. Even in most funerals, there are very few people who are truly grieved over the death. I know now that I cannot be remembered long either. All I want to do is to be faithful to myself throughout my life and be remembered by the persons I love after I died. In my funeral, I hope at least one person would say, “It was an honor to be acquainted with her, and I would remember her as long as I live.” And that will be enough for me.