04-11-2007, 07:56 PM
Quote:On the other hand, I live right down the street from the town cemetery (where my sister is, as you put it, interned).
Your sister is an intern at the cemetery? Dude, morbid. Does she like "Six Feet Under"?
Quote:Besides, I definitely don't want to be stuck in a metal pot, displayed like some trophy around the relatives' houses.
I want to be mounted and stuffed. Yew know, like by one of them thar taxonomists.
Quote:I've always found peace in cemeteries.
You can also find pieces in cemeteries... :shuriken:
I've only been to one funeral, myself. It was the traditional kind. Honestly, I didn't like it. I hate to critique a funeral-- Wait, actually I have no compunctions against it, so if I may say so, his eulogy sucked! The first half of the speech was almost entirely religious in nature, and that's not out of the ordinary for the deep south. But what's really unimaginative is that first part of the eulogy was a gigantic platitude that could be said about anyone. People don't die every day, folks. The least you can do is curtail a send-off speech to the person who died. They're not gonna die again, y'know? It's time to muster up some memories.
I dunno. I guess my expectations were just too high. I mean, I didn't really know the guy, so I was hoping to learn a bit about the great and shiny Sir Urns-a-lot since he seemed to make most everyone's eyes leak. Prior to the guy dying, I hadn't heard one good thing about the man. I wanted a story. I wanted to hear what, besides DNA, endeared this guy to his (largely estranged) family, because they're some pretty awesome people.
The second half of the eulogy was a flowery, tidied up version of his life. It focused on his good qualities instead of his bad ones. But you know they're reaching when you hear stuff like "He always gave a penny, never took a penny." I guess they censor life because, at a funeral, it's too much to deal with the person in anything but idealized terms. You know it hurts when the family refers to the deceeased in present tense for up to a week afterwards.
So, where I'm going with all this is that I think I'd prefer funerals that are less stuffy and truer to the person's life. I fully expect my grandpa to die pretty soon, and I'd rather like to hear about his life. The good stuff, the bad stuff, the stuff that makes him human. Celebrate the man he was.
-Lem