Police officers, family, friends, and dignitaries gathered to bid emotional goodbyes to two Chicago police officers who were fatally struck by a train this week.
He was reliable, loved to help, never hesitated to do so and “embodied honor, loyalty and integrity,” CPD chaplain the Rev. Dan Brandt said during the funeral Mass for PO Conrad Gary.
“We all hope and pray that the hole can be filled with the loving memories of your time with Conrad,” Governor Rauner said in his eulogy. “We in Illinois can never fill that hole, but what we can all do is remember Conrad’s life and his service to the people of Chicago and the people of the state of Illinois. Conrad is a true American patriot, a true American hero.”
Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson remembered PO Eduardo Marmolejo as a "humble man" who had put himself "in harm's way to protect all of us."
"Humble people are giants," he said, adding that "Eduardo was an exemplary officer" whose "selflessness and sense of duty he displayed early this week."
A eulogy is those words that will be spoken at your funeral someday reflecting back on the person you were, the things you accomplished, the things you did for others, and the example your life set and the legacy it has left behind. Have you ever sat and thought about writing your own eulogy? Taking a moment to really sit and consider what you want your eulogy to say is a powerful thing. It causes you to consider how you really want to be remembered:
What kind of person do you want others to be able to say that you were? This leads to us asking are we living our lives right now in such a way that they could say those things about you? Are their apologies to issue today while we can still speak the words? Are their mistakes we need to rectify while we still have that chance? Are their things about our character we need to improve on in order to become the person you want them to describe you as at your funeral?
What accomplishments do you want to have shared? Are we working on the goals we’d need to set in order to accomplish them? Are we spending our time each day focused on achieving those goals? Do we need to re-prioritize the way we are spending time to make sure we are giving these accomplishments we hope to achieve proper attention?
What example do you want them to be able to say you set for them? Are we setting that example right now? If not then how do we need to change our lives to make sure we are?
“One of the most powerful things we can do is to think about how we want to be remembered. It gives us direction and purpose.” – Loretta Laroche
It’s humbling to try writing your own eulogy. It helps give perspective on your life and it provides tremendous clarity on what we need to change about ourselves and what things we need to be working on accomplishing with our lives while we still have the time and capacity to do it. So that when our time is over and those we love speak to at our funerals they will speak of how we lived a life of love, integrity, service, laughter, and how ours was a life well lived…