{"id":93830,"date":"2022-01-08T15:37:13","date_gmt":"2022-01-08T22:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=93830"},"modified":"2022-01-10T20:33:07","modified_gmt":"2022-01-11T03:33:07","slug":"memento-mori","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2022\/01\/memento-mori.html","title":{"rendered":"Memento mori"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Las Vegas Nevada Temple at sunset.\u00a0 (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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I don\u2019t know whether this makes me peculiar or not \u2014 in any case, other facets of my character and personality are probably more than sufficient to do that<\/em> without the need of adding anything else<\/em> into the mix \u2014 but I often enjoy funerals.\u00a0 At the same time, especially when I\u2019ve enjoyed them, I often leave them feeling deeply challenged and more than a little bit inferior.\u00a0 Of course, I\u2019m well aware of the tendency of eulogies \u2014 look at the etymology of the word eulogy<\/em>! \u2014 to emphasize the good and to minimize, color over, or even altogether erase the bad.\u00a0 As the old saying goes, Nil nisi bonum<\/em>.\u00a0 Or, to give it its fuller expression, De mortuis nihil nisi bonum<\/i>.\u00a0 <\/i>\u201cI\u2019ve been to a lot of funerals,\u201d Elder J. Golden Kimball is reputed to have said, \u201cwhere the dead man was given a ticket to the celestial glory that I knew damned well wouldn\u2019t get him more than half way there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When I hear the happy reminiscences of good men and women that are spoken at their funerals, though, I think of dozens of ways in which I don\u2019t measure up, ways in which I could be and do better.\u00a0 This is especially so when I\u2019m personally confident that the praise is deserved.\u00a0 Sometimes, I wonder what speakers at my own funeral might truthfully be able to say about me, and I wonder about what they might not<\/em> feel themselves able to say.\u00a0 Am I focusing on things that will matter at that day of summing up, or have I been distracted by trivialities (if not worse)?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m very far from the bizarre monster that some of my critics have conjured up from the vasty deep (or, more accurately, that they\u2019ve created largely ex nihilo<\/em> out of a combination of their passionate hostility and their fevered imaginations).\u00a0 But I\u2019m acutely aware of genuine flaws and defects.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But all this is a long way to get around to saying that I\u2019ve listened, in bits and pieces, to the remarks that were delivered at the large Latter-day Saint\u00a0 memorial service for the late Harry Reid<\/a> that was held today in Las Vegas.\u00a0 (Brother Reid\u2019s having been a member and even the leader of the United States Senate seems to me, in some ways, to be profoundly irrelevant at this point, so I don\u2019t use that title.)\u00a0 And it\u2019s also to say that I found what was said \u2014 by, among others, Brother Reid\u2019s family, President Joseph R. Biden, former President Barack Obama, and President M. Russell Ballard \u2014 inspiring.\u00a0 The service is available online, and I commend it to your attention.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I also commend to those of my readers who hate and despise Harry Reid.\u00a0 If they\u2019re still filled with seething contempt for him after listening to it, I can only express my admiration, in as completely unadmiring way as possible, for their determination to hate him.\u00a0 And, furthermore, while you\u2019re thinking about Brother Reid, I direct your notice to this item:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHow Harry Reid helped secure hallowed ground for the Latter-day Saints\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Back in the day when I still had political opinions, I was on the opposite side of the political fence from Harry Reid.\u00a0 Not only in terms of party registration but in terms of political and economic views.\u00a0 But I am perfectly clear on the fact that he had many good qualities, that there was much in him to admire, and that there are elements in his life and example from which I can and should learn.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 *** \u00a0 I don\u2019t know whether this makes me peculiar or not \u2014 in any case, other facets of my character and personality are probably more than sufficient to do that without the need of adding anything else into the mix \u2014 but I often enjoy funerals.\u00a0 At the same time, especially when 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