Choose How You Want to Be Remembered Carefully

(Editor's Note: The following opinion column does not constitute an endorsement of any political party, or candidate, on the part of Newsmax.)  

The older I get, the more I think about tombstones and headstones, especially since I am now "playing on the back nine" so to speak, at age 68.

My father had a courageous quote put on his headstone that said "Dare to be a Daniel. . ."

It comes from a Gospel song written by Phillip Bliss in 1873. My father was a "Daniel."

Often swimming upstream against the current of the lazy, get along, go along crowd, he died much too early.

Years ago, I was reading a passage in a book about an individual who, while walking through a ancient graveyard in Vermont, happened upon a headstone with the inscription, "I knew this was going to happen, but I didn’t think it would be so soon."

Having a sense of humor is a good thing, especially on your deathbed.

As for me, my wife Zorine and I are avid sailors, so I chose a prayer for my headstone from the French Brenton fishermen saying, "Oh God, thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small."

I always liked this prayer and so too did President John F. Kennedy, who had this quote on a plaque that sat on his desk.

As much as I eschew personal pronouns, I have to say that I am also working on my own obituary as I have stuck in my mind what Winston Churchill once said, "History is going to be good to me for I intend to write it."

It probably sounds morbid (and arrogant!) to some, but I want to be well thought of after I'm gone.

I can’t count on those on the left in the liberal media to get my story right.

Often, I imagine what the obituary of, say, an IRS agent might say, "His job was to make people’s lives miserable, and he was good at his job.

"During his life, he had no interests, was not an interesting person and probably did not have a soul. He was a loser, will not be mourned, even by his family, and will not be missed, He's now on the verge of becoming dust."

Or, how about the obituary of some schlump who works for a corrupt lending company?

As an example, you may know them. They are the well-publicized bottom feeders who collect federal college loans, they lie, they cheat; they are despicable as a corporation and as a people. Their employees live lives of quiet desperation.

"She was a miserable collector of high interest college loans made to unsuspecting parents to send their children to over-priced colleges."

How depressing.

Can you imagine the poor miscreant losers who work for said bottom-feeding lenders, looking back at the end of his or her life, wondering why they wasted their lives laboring away for the unethical creeps running such enterprises?

Can you imagine how depressing it must be to work for Joe Biden?

Arguably the worst president in history, he is leaving office with low poll numbers and the punchline to a good joke.

He achieved nothing great and only served to divide America.

He won’t be missed, and he hasn’t even left office.

Generally, most federal employees, except the U.S. military, will have terrible obituaries.

Suffice to say, many of us carry a coda around with us, wanting to leave the world just a bit better for having been here.

That has always been my goal.

Of all the things I’ve done in my life so far — beyond the obvious of my life with Zorine and our children and grandchildren, writing books, and building businesses — one of my proudest achievements is coaching youth Lacrosse for many years, bringing joy to hundreds of boys and earning a lifetime coaching record of 126 wins against only 19 losses and four ties.

Together we won many championships.

As Benjamin Franklin said, "Wish not so much to live long as to live well."

Craig Shirley is Chairman of Citizens for the Republic, as well as a Ronald Reagan biographer and presidential historian. He's authored six books on Reagan. He's also written The New York Times bestseller, "December, 1941" and also published the companion book, "April, 1945." He's also the author of "Mary Ball Washington," which won the People’s Choice Award from the Library of Virginia. His book on the 1980 presidential campaign, "Rendezvous with Destiny" was named by The Wall Street Journal as one of the five best campaign books of all time. Shirley is also the author of the newly released bestseller, "The Search for Reagan."
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