|
Friday |
The mortal day has finally arrived. But you've procrastinated; hidden behind the subterfuge of denial. You're unprepared. You're dead ... and you haven't written your epitaph. As Marcus Aurelius so cheerfully put it: "Do not act as if you would live 10,000 years. Death hangs over you."
Thanks to Plan Your Epitaph Day, this bleak scenario needn't become a reality. PYED is a service intent on wrenching epitaph writing out of the hands of friends and relatives and putting the task where it belongs -- with the doomed intended.
Plan Your Epitaph Day occurs biannually, on April 6 and Nov. 1, and coincides with the Ching Ming festival and the Day of the Dead celebration, respectively.
Lance Hardie, of Arcata, Calif., is the man behind the plan. While working at KHSU radio, one of a casket-full of creative jobs he's held, Hardie covered special-calendar events. Duly inspired, last year he created his own special event and submitted Plan Your Epitaph Day to Chase's Calendar of Events. They bought it, and Hardie's Web page came to life soon thereafter. He has also produced a yet-to-be-published book entitled, "How to Write Your Own Epitaph--and Live Long Enough to Enjoy It."
To take advantage of Hardie's epitaph-writing expertise, mail the form he provides; he'll do the rest. Will it be expensive? You bet. Hardie takes his task seriously, charging $1,000 an epitaph without a hint of sheepishness. After all, this man considers himself a "top-of-the-line epitaph artist."
Hardie says of his site, "Yeah, it's funny, but then it's an opportunity to look at your life." He admits that he's written only a few epitaphs for friends and the pets of friends, and that the few browsers who expressed interest balked at the fee.
But isn't $1,000 a small price to pay for shaping your own immortality? Act now. Don't end up like attorney Sir John Strange, whose epitaph reads, "Here lies an honest lawyer, and that is Strange."
Have ideas, tips or advice on Spotlights?
Drop a line to Spotlight.
Copyright © 1996 CMP Media Inc.