DEATH ON THE DINING ROOM TABLE

Old time solution to make death real

I am just appalled at the lack of cognition regarding one’s fellow man. There seems to be a constant battle between people. Americans are all Americans. We have a common ground. Can we start acting like it? Where has the empathy gone for our family, friends and even strangers?

People have replaced themselves with electronic versions of who they want others to see. But only the best parts. And, if there are no best parts…make them up!! Facebook is really the worst. I agree, it is good to keep in touch with family. And, if you can stop there, well, kudos to you. Most of us get sucked into the hole of me me me. We tweak our photos, edit out our wrinkles and avoid the ugly stuff that may make us slink away in shame. Newsflash! We know you are not perfect. Quit pretending perfection. Failures and the human condition go hand in hand. Living in a pretend bubble of a screen persona with no real world contact and experiences produce an uncaring human disconnected from real life and real death.

The callousness of people today and the total disregard for human life can be partly attributed to the fact that Americans have become so far removed from death. The process is sanitized and the dead are taken away, out of our sight.

My 13x grandmother. Death in style.

We would all be better off if, when someone in the family does die, they are brought home and laid out on the dining room table. The casket is pulled out from the shop because it is pre-made by the family. The body is washed and dressed and the wake is held in the house. Hands on death. Respect for death. Respect for life.

To all those in charge of bringing up children…if they misbehave as a teenager and you think they might be on a really rotten path, have them intern at a funeral home. Intern with paramedics. Intern with death. Mortuaries should have programs for our young people. Show them what happens when you DIE. Maybe it would bring about respect for life, respect for being alive, respect for the dead. It is not something to be taken lightly. All those video games and movies full of death have broken us. It has numbed us to the harsh reality of dying and never getting to be alive again. Death is forever. It is God’s greatest gift and the fact that men, women and even children are killing other humans is evil.

Funeral homes should be a scared straight solution. Use them for the good of your community. I do not know why this cannot be an answer to many of society’s problems.