How do you wish to be remembered as?

I was having a casual discussion with dad who had just returned from a "Smaran Sabha" (remembering a person who has died), of one of his colleague who passed by few days back. Dad was a bit gloomy as the thought of the inevitable loomed in his mind and made him realise that probably his danger time has started and one by one all his friends and relatives are bidding good bye.

I brushed up those thoughts immediately and started discussing something else. He then said that the uncle whose Smaran Sabha he has attended , was a man with acid tongue. No matter what he did, though genuine, did little to cut short his bitter tongue image. The people speaking on the Sabha tried their best to enclose his negative behaviour with a positive note yet that feeling which had hurt people was prominent from their words. I jokingly told my dad since the uncle is no more people are making this effort to sound their grievances as sweet as possible. Had he been alive they would have spoken only about the negativity.

This led me ponder as to how we would be remembered when we die. Surely we will not be there to witness everything , yet do we want people to remember us as a person who was jovial, sweet, loving, caring etc etc  or do we want us to be remembered for our anger, poor behaviour. As long as we live we care so much about our image but what happens when we die? Had that uncle been a little sympathetic towards people and had he not spoken ugly words, he shouldnt have been remembered like this.. Nobody is perfect but as they say words hurt more than physical assault, we can always choose our words wisely and think twice before speaking. This is not to say that we shouldnt take stand where necessary. Yes we should and its required. Again we can be only that much strict as required and always look at every possible aspect before giving our verdict. It would gain us people's respect and love.