Rodriguez: Let's not overdo the eulogies

I can be a people person at times, but sometimes people are overrated. I’m not being anti-social, but rather, anti-over-eulogizing.

I watched the funeral Mass on TV last weekend for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. It was a relief to see that there was no formal eulogy. In keeping with the justice’s philosophy that “Funerals should not be dominated by effusive praise,” his son, the presiding priest, refrained from that.

I have nothing against saying nice things about people when they’re gone. That is a noble thing. But there is the over-tendancy in our culture to develop Alzheimer’s disease when someone dies, especially an unexpected death. When Princess Diana died, some people made a saint out of her. She had her good deeds, along with controversies. They did the same thing with Selena.

When Grandpa Chico died in 1997, I remember at his rosary in Lubbock when one of his fellow Guadalupanos eulogized him, saying, “Santos was always there to help. Anytime we asked him to do anything.”

I laughed because in my mind, I could hear Grandpa Chico cursing. He cursed a lot.

I have no desire to be over-eulogized when my time comes. I’ve heard of a few people who have actually written their own obituaries or eulogies. I’ve had my share of good and bad deeds, and so, if you are tempted to over-eulogize me, here’s a few suggestions to include:

• She was a wordsmith of a journalist who never ended a sentence with a preposition or wrote a sentence fragment. Something she was good at.

• And she never started a sentence or paragraph with a conjunction. But when she did, it was for a good reason.

• She never groaned when standing in long lines at Wal-Mart, instead beaming, “This is a great time to check my Facebook!”

• She often made happy comments to people who cut her off on the road, such as “Oh, I guess you beat me to it. Go right ahead!”

• She never hung up on telemarketers, but instead, gave them the time of day, regardless of lesson planning and deadlines she had to meet.

• She gladly gave her email address to department stores who wanted to trick her at the register with receiving unending SPAM and sales promotions.

• She always smiled and said “No, but thank you for asking” when asked if she wanted to supersize her quarter pounder meal.

• She never had a bad hair day.

• Always wanting to help out her annoying fellow man or woman, she almost always responded immediately to text messages, realizing it was the most pressing matter of the day, thus showing high respect for the self-serving text messaging “me me me culture” which she never criticized.

Helena Rodriguez is as Portales native. Contact her at:

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