Obituaries and immortality

I was flipping through my local paper yesterday when I came across the obituaries section. Normally I don’t look at it since I find it morbid, but this time I looked. I found it decidedly odd, not odd in a bad way, just strange. Each one was like a little biography, noting the key moments in their lives and the people they shared their lives with. I found this to be actually quite a fitting tribute. Most people live and die relatively anonymously, with only the select few achieving the notoriety required (which in theory means they have done something of general interest) to have their lives documented in format that could be bound. So, for those who never achieve their 15 minutes of fame while they are alive, death and a well written obituary will ensure that someone you’ve never met will remember, if not your name, at least your deeds and that is the immortally that fame brings.