Kindness is remembered

My daily newspaper told me yesterday about a study of 38 million obituaries (1998 to 2024) by Michigan State University. The study looked at themes in these short records of a person’s life: on average 175 words to represent a lifetime.

General decency and how they treated others was overall (3/4 obituaries) more prominent than any achievement or accomplishment (1/4). Kindness is what was remembered.

Today a letter from clergyman said this was what every church minister knows well from funerals and discussions with family members. “It is the love and care that the deceased showed to those around them that people remember and treasure.” See £ The Times  January 13 

Elaine Sugden