What is the importance of tribute? Why should you consider writing a tribute speech?
Is it worth the effort writing a tribute speech to a beloved family member, an adorable mentor, a trusted friend, a notable administrator, a hardworking teacher, and any other important personality?
My answer to that question will be a resounding “yes.”
If you want to know why writing a tribute speech is that important, you will find out from this post.
You probably know that a tribute is “something that you say, write, or give that shows your respect and admiration for someone, especially on a formal occasion” (Cambridge Dictionary).
For this article, a tribute is a statement employed to express gratitude, respect, and admiration for something, someone, or someplace. It is a common practice to write tribute speeches during funerals.
However, you can always write a tribute for any occasion. Here are five importance of writing a tribute
Importance of tribute
- A tribute highlights the achievements and the good qualities of the subject.
- A tribute speech is a means to honour the person the tribute is about;
- A Tribute can be a source of information to the audience.
- Tribute can also inspire the audience that listens or reads it.
- A tribute throws up some life lessons for both the present and future generations to learn.
- Tribute is an opportunity for the writer to publicly express his love, respect and admiration for the person in focus.
We will now examine each of the above points in detail.
You use a tribute to highlight the achievements of the subject.
As the occasion demands, you write a tribute to someone you admire, right?
But how do we get to the point of admiring someone?
Some of the reasons come from looking at the person’s achievements in a lifetime – more so if the person had to overcome great difficulties alongside.
Therefore, a tribute gives you ample opportunity to highlight a person’s achievements to an audience. For instance, if you are writing a tribute in memory of your mum, you will not fail to mention what she achieved in life and what she probably went through to raise you and your siblings.
A tribute honours the person’s legacies/memories.
When appropriate, you write a tribute to the person you respect, highlighting the good qualities and the achievement of such an individual.
As you highlight the outstanding achievements of the person in focus, you are honouring the person’s legacies by not letting their achievements go unnoticed.
For instance, I will never forget one of my secondary school teachers for the tribute to my set of school prefects. He honoured us with a speech that adjudged us the best my alma mater had had in the five years before our tenure.
A tribute is a source of information for the would-be audience.
Your written tribute would often embody vital information about the subject of which the audience might be unaware. As the audience listens to or reads your tribute, people get to be informed more about the person in question.
Along this line, one example comes to my mind. That was when I attended the funeral of a colleague’s late father. From the eulogies given on that occasion, I got to know (amongst other things) why my colleague bears a name that is unusual for someone from her part of the country.
A tribute may also be a source of inspiration for the audience hearing it.
A tribute you write about someone that highlights the great qualities or achievements of the person can inspire your audience to attain similar achievements or even greater ones.
For instance, imagine a tribute highlighting the uncommon achievements of an orphan who emerged as the best graduating student in a class.
I believe it will inspire an “I can do it too” attitude in any orphan child or a less privileged person who listens to or reads the story.
A tribute embodies life lessons worth-hearing
A well-written tribute to an outstanding individual would contain stories, experiences, or anecdotes that teach valuable life lessons.
A tribute is important to write because anyone that reads or listens to it can learn from it. Anyway, a lesson is a lesson, no matter how small it may be.
Next time you see a well-written tribute to someone, identify the valuable life lessons the tribute speech contains. After all, if you learn well from other people’s mistakes, you will save yourself from falling victim.
A tribute may assuage feelings.
One can prepare a tribute speech for any occasion – including a funeral.
The type of tribute written for a funeral or in honour of the dead is called a eulogy. And you know that when someone dies, friends and families experience immense grief, mourning and sorrow. But a tribute can be a source of consolation to the audience.
In a eulogy, you sing the praise of someone who has recently died. You emphasise the person’s good qualities or good legacies and so on. This kind of speech helps to assuage the hurtful feeling experienced by the deceased’s family and friends.
Opportunity to openly express your admiration for the subject
A tribute is essentially not about you per se; it is about the subject of your admiration. But a tribute can also tell people about you.
You may have been admiring the person in secret. But in writing a tribute, you publicly declare your love, respect and admiration for the person about whom you wrote the tribute.
Importance of tribute: Conclusions
As you have seen from this post, there are many good reasons to write a tribute speech.
Writing a tribute speech allows you to publicly express your love, respect and admiration for the subject of the tribute. While you do that, you highlight the achievements or qualities of the person that inspired your admiration.
A tribute brings a form of honour to the subject by drawing attention to the person’s legacies.
In addition, a tribute speech can also be a source of information and inspiration for the audience intended for it. Therefore, when next you have the opportunity to write or present a tribute speech, do it with all your heart.
