Dear Cary,
I have been friends with my best friend since we were 15 years old; we united because we both had crazy-ass parents. Hers was an abusive alcoholic dad, mine was an undiagnosed borderline personality disordered mother who wreaked havoc on my life by playing constant mind games.
They've both aged. My mom has mellowed, and until recently, so had my friend's dad. But now he's had a few mild strokes, seems to be slipping into dementia or possibly Alzheimer's, and is back to drinking and attempting to be the big, tough guy he always thought he was. He's driving everyone insane. Conversations between us often turn to talking about his funeral (which I think many in the family are hoping will happen sooner rather than later), and recently we came upon an interesting dilemma: Who will deliver his eulogy? And is there an obligation to be nice?
I'm a writer by trade, so I think there's hope I'll come up with something good. A nice compromise, if there's one to be had. There probably won't be many people at said funeral, but still, we were brainstorming ideas of what to say and came up with pathetically little:
- He always tried to tell a good joke.
- He is the reason why his daughters are such strong feminists today.
- He didn't ruin any of his daughters' weddings.
- He liked to be involved in the community.
We got some good black humor belly laughs out of the conversation, but now I think we could really use some advice. Should the eulogy be avoided? If someone in the family insists on one, should it say only nice things? I know it would be totally inappropriate to say, "Good riddance," but that's about the only thing I can think to say.
Blocked Writer
Dear Blocked Writer,
The dead, however monstrous in life, are finally defenseless in death. This seems to inspire a certain mild scruple in the rest of us.
It is safe to say that not all his survivors despised the deceased. So however much you may wish to take a last backhanded swipe at the man, or deliver a devastating closing argument, I would not advise it, not in the eulogy at least.
In a eulogy for a man whose life you did not admire and can only weakly celebrate, a recitation of the facts and accomplishments would suffice. He was employed. He supported his family financially. He graduated from some kind of school. He did things for the community. He liked to tell a joke. He was a father. That's enough. Or at least it's something.
I have recently had occasion to observe that when someone dies, events are set in motion that are unexpected in certain ways and beyond our control. We really do not know all that we will feel and do. So things come up that you did not expect. And people step in. Someone other than his daughter or you may rise to say a few good and surprising words. Everyone may learn some things about him they did not know.
It is a time to remember the good in a life.
That does not mean that in private you cannot exorcise your demons. Death, in fact, does offer an occasion for the living to settle accounts -- in private. So if you must -- and it sounds like your razor wit is being sharpened on his withering torso even as we speak -- go ahead and deliver those few choice words you've been saving up for him. But do it while alone with the corpse.
Being alone with the dead levels the playing field. It is easy to heap scorn, like clods of dirt, while we all stand around together, powerful and united in our vitality. But get alone with the dead and see what happens.
Even in death those who were tyrants in life hold surprising power over us. And they sometimes manage to best us even from the grave: They leave odious instructions we feel honor-bound to follow. Oh, the dead are clever beyond measure!
Preferable to all this ghoulishness, of course, is a settling of accounts with the living. You know better than I how things stand. It may not be possible to talk to him openly. But if it is, if you see a chance, if there is something you need to say to him while he can still hear you, I hope you will say it.
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What? You want more?
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