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Essay On Eulogy

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On Monday, October 30 2017, I went to Pruis Hall and heard Alex Sheen, the founder of the nonprofit “Because I Said I Would.” His dad, a pharmacist in Cleveland, was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. To combat the disease, he went through chemo radiation which seemed to be working, and he was able to go out with his family for Chinese food. However, the cancer later spread to his liver, pancreas and brain, and resulted in death. Alex decided to give a eulogy at the funeral, in which he decided he would start fulfilling more promises. Here, he first said the phrase “Because I said I would,” which later led to his going viral on social media with millions of likes and his starting of a blog. Through class discussions and presentations, …show more content…

Although he and followers of his blog did not have to fulfill these promise cards, it shows the importance of being a man of your word and keeping your promises. Although not everyone can afford so much time or money to fulfill a promise, Alex said people should “do what you can with what you have.”
Alex said at the conclusion of his speech that “everyone is born with the ability to make and keep a promise.” This goes into our yearlong class discussion of “Is a leader born or made?” Alex, who believes everyone can make and keep their promises, would believe that leaders are made. Prior to writing his blog and eventually starting his nonprofit, Alex had no public works experience, public speaking experience, or leadership experience. As he said, he was “just some guy who worked at a software company making a six figure income with five figure stock options.” He did not need the money, and thought about stopping, as running a nonprofit in addition to working forty hours a week was a big time commitment and expensive. That was until one day he went into work and saw a letter on his desk by an unnamed follower of his saying that she appreciated and was inspired by his blog and work and said that he inspired her to make a promise of her own. For the past few years, she had been constantly made fun of for her appearance and for being overweight, so she started cutting herself and was considering suicide.

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