Don’t think of it as morbid, but rather, an opportunity for everlasting graffiti! If you don’t want a tombstone, then for purgatory’s sake, please just play along.
In this scenario, we have words, literally etched in stone, associated with the remains of your body. Hence, much like pondering your legacy, let’s consider the few words associated with you. For a while, I wanted:
What does not kill you,
Only makes you stronger,
But what does kill you,
Only makes you dead.
The range of reactions to this spans from laughter to corn fusion confusion to head-tilted grimaces of condescension from an over-exerted yet lame attempt at wit. That last reaction is complex, but I pick up on all of it.
Lately, I’ve liked the following, from ‘Express Yourself‘ by Charles Wright and The Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band:
It’s not what you look like,
When you’re doin’ what you’re doin’,
It’s what you’re doin’, when you’re doin’,
What you look like you’re doin’.
Express yourself.
Funky, right? Just like the song. It was the first tune I starred when I started Spotify. I happen to really like this message; I feel power in it.
So, what are you doin’? And would you want it on your tombstone?