[ WP ] An unknown billionaire wills that his funeral be a contest where the stranger who delivers the best eulogy inherits everything . You ’ re up .

I do not know a thing about this person. I do not know his name, his background, his family; I do not know what drove him in life, nor what brought him to death. I can not say he was a good man, nor that he died too soon. In fact, the only thing I know, you know, about this man ( if indeed he is a man ), is that he amassed a significant amount of money, and that this fortune will be presented to whomever might deliver an impressive speech. 
 Now why is that? If he wanted to be remembered, he could have just built a library somewhere and named it after himself like all rich people seem to do when they worry about death. He could have started a fund, a trust, a charity, he could have done an infinite amount of things to make himself known and improve the world in the process. 
 Instead, here we are. Strangers, circled around a closed casket, each competing with each other over how well we can eulogize a man unknown to each and every one of us -- an inherently insincere and somewhat cynical task, as the point of a eulogy is to share memories of the deceased, memories that none of us have. Instead, we're here to use big words, waving our oratory dicks around for the grand prize of personal freedom. 
 I wonder, then, is that the point? Did this man gather us here to show us something about human nature? Possible, but doubtful. There are far easier ways of proving that people will compromise themselves for money. What else? I submit that what this guy wanted to show us was something that could only be made clear in this rare moment, an old point strongly emphasised by the light of a singular death: That the world is a funny place, a crazy place, a magical place, where shit like this can happen; and that death can take away many things, but it can never take away a good sense of humour. 
 This whole thing is a joke. A joke that took a lifetime to set up, a joke where the comedian is no longer around to savour the punchline. A joke so absurd, that sometimes, you just need to sit back and laugh. Because without a sense of humour, this whole life thing really just turns into one boring day after another. 
 My hat is off to the gentleman in this casket who sought to remind us of this fact.
