Yogi Berra utters more wisdom than Bill Buckley. Funny, but we all understand – which makes it even more comical.
Today isn’t so much about fun or being funny though. There has been a death. There’s always a death, a funeral to attend, friends to console, but today I’ll be attending a “memorial” service for a mother who passed away after a long illness. It won’t be fun, but I’m not going for her (even though I did know her). I’m going for the living – a son. Certainly, I’ll be among the audience showing their respects for her life and death, but I suppose more than a few will be there who never knew her really. After all, funerals or memorials are for the living. For those who mourn her passing – I’ll be there.
Few things in life are more dreaded than attending a funeral. Preaching a funeral outranks it. Been there, done that. Not fun. Flattered to be asked I suppose, but I sure wish somebody else would get that honor – not me. I hate it.
I’ve attended funerals that were lavish and formal. I’ve been to services that were celebrations of life more than mournings of death. I’ve been to services full of prayer and those that had not a single prayer. I’ve listened to acapella music, pianos, full blow rock bands and CD recordings of Pat Benatar. I’ve heard family members speak and heard preachers who never met the deceased. I’ve been to 15 minute funerals and those that lasted hours. I’ve been given a single page “program” and full-blown 4-color/full of photos programs. Some funerals are much like others. Some stand alone as odd statements of the life of the deceased – where beer is glorified as the drink of choice of the deceased and George Thorogood and the Destroyers sing (from a CD), “If you’re not drinking, I’m leaving.” Death, like life, can often be very strange.
I’m not looking forward to today. Witnessing the sadness of a grieving family isn’t my idea of a good time. But I’ll be among the other faces there. If they take some solace knowing I was there – then it will have been worth it. And if they don’t notice, it doesn’t much matter. To be reminded that others suffer and that our presence is often the right thing to do will be enough. Besides, it’s never foolish to be reminded of life, death, the brevity of life and those things that matter the most.
