Wednesday, March 31, 2010

lost

the husband of a woman i have known since my children were young died. i received an email that said "he passed away peacefully while they were watching american idol, which they loved."

could there be anything more depressing? did anyone notice he had passed away before the commercial? what if it had been survivor? who has really been voted off the island? dear representative of the universal force, please do not let me die in the middle of american idol or any other television show.

and then, at this man's funeral, a co-worker spoke and extolled his ability to manipulate data. again, dear representative of the universal force, please do not allow anyone to speak at my service if they can't think of anything more interesting than that to say about me. really, silence will be fine.

what's going on here? when someone dies, it should be significant, shouldn't it? are we so afraid to think about what death really is that we like to just think it is all ok? oh wait--change the channel--i think lost is on now.

1 comment:

  1. The last week before Mom died, we wrapped her up in bright blankets and found an obscure Akira Kurasawa film on TCM in the family room at hospice and had tea and talked about her time in Japan. Wish you could have been at her funeral - each of us chose something we especially loved about her and told a story or two, dar and my brother-in-law included, and her eulogy was given by the woman who founded MetroStage. No hymns, just a Nat King Cole song and "What a Wonderful World," sung by William Hubbard, her favorite entertainer from MetroStage, and the rabbi was totally amazing, warm and loving and he didn't even mind when Baby Addison toddled up to show him her skinned knees...Mom would have loved it...Don't worry, your send-off will reflect your family and friends and YOU...and you have many more stories to impart before they get a chance to eulogize you.

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