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There is a tip that I’ve seen in a few places now about writing your own obituary or grave-side eulogy and although this seems a bit mawkish to me I can see the good intent behind the idea. By doing this we would have to take stock of our lives, consider whether we are truly following our proper path and, presumably, realize that the clock could run down on us at any moment so we had better get more of a sense of urgency into our lives. Whilst mulling this over I found a book that I had mislaid for a long time “The Daily Telegraph second book of Obituaries – Heroes and Adventurers”. Flicking through this book again I was amazed at the sheer scale of what some people have been able to fit into their lives. Here are a couple of examples.

“Major-General Eric Harrison, who has died aged 94….distinguished service in both World Wars, he was a remarkable all-round sportsman – a representative rugby player, an Olympic athlete, a legendary rider to hounds, pig-sticker and big game hunter – as well as an artist, author and gardener.”

“Harry Rée, who has died aged 76, had two distinguished careers – first in the Special Operations Executive during the Second World War, and then as Professor of Education at York University, after which he went back to school as a classroom teacher, an almost unheard of self-demotion.”

(You would have to say that there probably weren’t too many state school teachers who began their careers aged 60 and had already been awarded the Order of the British Empire, the Distinguished Service Order and the Croix de Guerre?)

Apart from the richness and variety of experience there is a great deal of bravery, resilience and a very strong sense of duty too. Many of these men and women were called upon to serve in World War II and often put themselves in tremendous danger. For instance, Mary Lindell worked heroically in the French resistance and was interrogated numerous times by the Gestapo before being shot and imprisoned in a concentration camp. She lived to be 91. The Australian military surgeon Edward “Weary” Dunlop repeatedly put himself in harms way to protect his men to an astonishing extent when held captive as a Prisoner Of War by the Japanese and yet retained his dignity and decency whatever the circumstances.

Sometimes you have to stop and wonder how you would have met these kinds of challenges if they had landed on our own doorsteps?

Reading these extraordinary life stories made me feel a bit sheepish about my own meagrer achievements and reticent to write an obituary with these swashbucking examples still fresh in my mind. However, to feel overshadowed by what other people have done is to miss the point. The most useful lesson I can take from the book of obituaries is the boldness, the sense of possibilities and the indomitable spirit displayed by these people. Perhaps if we can develop these qualities ourselves and apply them to our own circumstances we can live a life truly worth writing about?

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