That was one of the most fundamental and sacred duties good friends and families performed for one another! They tended the flame of memory, so no oneโs death meant an immediate vanishment from the world; in some sense the deceased would live on after their passing, at least as long as those who loved them lived. Such memories were an essential weapon against the chaos of life and death, a way to ensure some continuity from generation to generation, an order of endorsement and meaning.
Dean KoontzNot all or even most suffering is at the hands of fate; it befalls us at our invitation.
Dean Koontz