Funerals, obituaries and hope
Having been at a funeral today and hearing about the death of Pete Seeger - another twentieth century hero - I was reminded of something I have started to think about when I listen to Radio Four's Last Word.
Last Word is a show that picks up on some of the people who have died in the preceding week, often people somewhat out of the public eye or widely forgotten, and provides a bit of detail about their lives and what marked them out.
For a long time, it used to make me sad to hear these stories, a sense of the world losing remarkable people who had achieved extraordinary things in their lives, that we are all poorer for their absence. Then one day I thought "what if there was a show that could describe the amazing things that will be achieved by babies born in this week?" Now in addition to letting me learn about interesting people whose stories would otherwise have passed me by, Last Word gives me hope.
Last Word is a show that picks up on some of the people who have died in the preceding week, often people somewhat out of the public eye or widely forgotten, and provides a bit of detail about their lives and what marked them out.
For a long time, it used to make me sad to hear these stories, a sense of the world losing remarkable people who had achieved extraordinary things in their lives, that we are all poorer for their absence. Then one day I thought "what if there was a show that could describe the amazing things that will be achieved by babies born in this week?" Now in addition to letting me learn about interesting people whose stories would otherwise have passed me by, Last Word gives me hope.