Expert: Ted Nesbitt - 10/19/2009

Question
for 35 years I have searched for this for my epitaph.  Need it soon. goes something like this: They laughed the day I was born, I cried. I laughed the day that I died; they cried..........    I'm sorrowful for the lost dignity of America that social manners have become extinct. I promise you that is not the case with me.

Answer
Dear Sheryl:

It's not really an epitaph, although some people MAY have used it as such.   

There has been an ongoing dispute about who actually wrote it.  Some people argue that it is an Indian [as in the country in Asia] saying, while others believe it to be Native American [most often cited as from the Cherokee nation].

Here are three versions of the saying.  The one by Tony Campolo -- a Baptist minister in Philadelphia is obviously NOT the original version.

"When you were born, you cried, and the world rejoiced. Live your life in such a manner that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice."    — Indian Proverb.

When you were born, you cried and everybody else was happy. The only question that matters is this: When you die, will YOU be happy when everybody else is crying?
Tony Campolo

Cherokee saying: When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.

I hope this help you, Sheryl.

Ted Nesbitt