Who Will Write Your Final Cut?

I was watching “The Final Cut,” a science fiction drama starring Robin Williams, Mira Sorvino and James Caviezel. As a memorialist, I particularly enjoyed this film.

First-time filmmaker Omar Naim writes and directs the science fiction drama The Final Cut. The movie is set in the near future. The story concerns a microchip that is capable of recording a person's entire life. Robin Williams plays Alan Hakman, an editor who cuts together the footage to make pleasant movies for funerals.

The film has a theme that 1 in 20 people have memory chips and Williams’ character, known as “a cutter,” assembles categories of memory, e.g., family, career, community, et cetera. At the end of people’s lives, the editor assembles the best of the life stories, careful to delete footage that reflects the sins of mortal men and women.

For most of us, a diary or journal is as close to a memory chip as we will ever have. We can be honest to the degree that our characters will allow, and we can be as complete or incomplete as we desire.

Everyone has a story and, for most people, their story will die with them, except as preserved in the memories of others or through a memorial or family history. Our memories are encrypted in the minds of others and this data can be reached through personal interviews, perhaps using the Family History Questionnaire.
I am a big proponent of our Family History Questionnaire, http://www.valdostamemorials.com/family_history_questionnaire.htm to interview relatives before they pass away.

I am also a strong advocate for the use of Life History Plaques (SM) to memorialize our lives and the lives of others as part of the cemetery monument. See, http://www.valdostamemorials.com/LifeHistoryPlaques.asp.

One line in the film states word to the effect that “it is for the greater good that your life mean something.” That is a thought that everyone should reflect upon.

If you want your life to mean something, and everyone should aspire to leave the world better because of their actions, then the Family History Questionnaire and the Life History Plaques (SM) are excellent starting points for documenting your family history.

Preserve your family history; after all, centuries from now, the only knowledge of your family may be what you, yourself, preserve. Just do it, and do it now; after all, it is the right thing to do. Besides, this may be your only opportunity to do your own final cut!

Oh, “the Final Cut” is a fine movie for anyone, but especially enjoyable for anyone in the death-care industry.

Burton Fletcher
www.USAMonuments.com
Burton@USAMonuments.com
Copyright, 2006. All Rights Reserved.