Transcription:
If the family does homework, which is in front of them, you feel their peace and resolution or their struggle. So it depends on the circumstance. I’m always amazed at the courage of people. I officiated at the funeral of a seven-year-old girl. Her parents were divine. Their courage and their love and appreciation of her life were beyond description. A funeral of a 99-year-old person who spent the last 10 years in dementia, not recognizing majority of her loved ones in the end of her life, is a different story. So I’m not sure how to answer what makes anything good or not. I can only say that if we honour and love and do it with absolute extraordinary respect and honesty, it’s felt. It felt in sincerity. Eulogies are not stand-up comedy. It’s also not whitewash, but a very delicate balance between reality of a person and the goodness that we all bring into the world. And to capture that, that’s the role of a family. Loving tradition, even when it doesn’t speak to you, but allowing its work, to do its work. It doesn’t have to all make sense. It’s too much all at once. But if it’s important to the parent and grandparent, then you do it. You walk the path.