Cliffed from Wikipedia:
Speakers for the Dead are the wandering representatives of a Humanist movement (not a religion, though they are treated with the respect accorded a priest or cleric); they research the dead person's life and give a speech that attempts to speak for them, describing the person's life as he or she tried to live it.
Speakers for the Dead seem to have arisen as a movement in response to Ender's 'Speaking' the life of the Hive Queen (and the life of Hegemon Peter Wiggin) in widely-read books that slowly subvert human hatred of the 'buggers' into sorrow over a Xenocide, the complete extinction of an alien race.
I had occasion to attend a memorial service for an officer killed in Iraq earlier this week. It was respectful, and in many senses a hagiography (although I'm trying to avoid some the implied negative connotations of that word).
It made me think a lot about what I want out of a memorial service, inasmuch as I'm a diehard atheist. But I would like a Speaker, for that one. I don't want a hagiography. I want truthful intent.
Ignoring the fact that I'll die at a high velocity long before you will, I'll do it! I even promise to keep Claire Danes references out of this one...
ReplyDeleteYou realize, I'm holding you to that one.
ReplyDeleteI await the inevitable mention of chick-rock and the nigh-infinite ramen supply.
Oh, definitely. Possibly some fond memories of playing StarCon under a red light, too...
ReplyDelete