"Funerals Mandatory"

You can go here to read Aaron Renn's most recent Substack, "Funerals Mandatory." In it Renn writes about his thoughts following the recent funeral of a college friend who had died of cancer.

Until about age 35, people cannot emotionally connect with the idea that they will continue changing into the future. They know they have changed - oh, how we know we’ve grown and changed - but don’t really understand in more than a nominal intellectual sense the story arc of life. 

Today, I understand that I’m going to start having new thinking and new experiences as I pass through different stages of life. This seeing people at funerals thing wasn’t one that I had anticipated in advance, but it doesn’t surprise me. I know expect that I’ll be running into these new experiences and shifts regularly.

As someone nearly 30 years older than Renn, I am surprised at how few funerals I have attended of friends and my generation of family. That will change as (if) I continue to age, of course. As Renn comments to his readers:

I’ve always been one of the most peripherally attached members of all of my friend groups. But I’ve made a commitment to try my best to attend any funerals for people I’ve been connected to over the years. In a book he wrote long ago, Rudy Giuliani had a chapter called “Weddings Optional, Funerals Mandatory.” I’ve come to appreciate that in ways I didn’t when I was younger.

For my thoughts about funerals and burial practices, you can go here, here, and here.