So about John McCain.
What he did or did not do as a soldier, a P.O.W. or a career politician doesn't make a difference in my opinions on this.
But.
Is it not the most bizarre thing to take someone's dead body... the inert husk that used to be a human being... and fly it all over the US for a week from here to there so that people can line up for blocks to walk past a casket?
Five days of lying in state.
How much money did it cost to fly his remains around so people could look at a flag on a box? I saw many photos of people lining the route with their cameras/phones taking photos.
I just don't understand it.
I don't care exactly, either.
I'm not saying they shouldn't have done it or that it's not right. My commentary is based in confusion. Some dead guy that you can't even see, and WON'T see rolling by in a black limo.
I was
also offended by the photos that were plastered on the news websites of
his wife and daughter crying at the funeral services, although I
suppose one could argue that they allowed the press to enter the venue
and they weren't hiding behind a privacy screen and that they probably
didn't care whether they were photographed or not.
It still
struck me as unnecessarily intrusive at a time when people should be
respecting the grief of his family members and allowing them some space.
I have no clue on this one.
I'm not a huge funeral fan, anyway.
As a society, what we do
with our dead usually involves strange rituals, large helpings of religion and a hell of a lot of money.
Funeral directors take years of classes to learn how to separate the grieving from their gold.
Fortunately, people have started
questioning the whole huge, expensive and ridiculous spectacle that
happens most of the time when someone dies.
I don't think it matters whether people can afford it, either.
I find it obscene.
What could the families of the dead use the money for instead?
My grandma practically bankrupted herself to buy a hermetically sealed casket for the remains of my Grandpa Jim. She didn't want anything to touch him or for his body to mix with the dirt eventually. He died in 1973. The casket was three thousand dollars. It took her many years to pay off the funeral expenses.
So is it just me?
I think we're really weird about the dead and funerals.
I've never been to a funeral....rather shocking at my age really. I'm planning on the age old pagan ritual of cremation for myself, lol.
ReplyDeleteFor some memorializing their family member in this way is a big,big deal. I admired John McCain, but I didn't watch the news coverage. Wouldn't it be weird for family members NOT to cry? It's obvious to me that he was much beloved. Sure it's a lot of money, but for his family it's a huge honor.
And I think it was a poke in the eye of Pres. Trump too.
Of course they should cry. I just thought the press taking photos of them doing so and then plastering them all over the news was in poor taste.
DeleteI know it's a big deal to some. I just don't understand what makes people transport a dead hunk of human all over for a week and then what makes thousands of people line a parade route with cameras out, stand in a queue for hours and then walk past a flag-covered box. It feels less like honoring and more like a tourist attraction.
It makes his death into something cheap and tawdry.
It diminishes all that happened in his life. Or maybe that's just my perception. I don't know. Just trying to make sense of it.
And I want to be cremated, too. I'd like to be planted as a tree.
My grandma and then my mom paid for their own funerals and had things set up the way they wanted while they were still alive. My moms plan was really good because it stated that if she didn't finish paying it off before she died, the funeral home would pick up the rest of the tab and she would still get the $5,000 casket, flowers and funeral she wanted. Yes, she even picked out some of her own flowers. My brother and I said we will just be cremated when we go. No need for all of that.
ReplyDeleteVery considerate of people to plan their own and have everything taken care of before they die.
DeleteI won't have any use for my remains, I don't want anyone else using what's left after organ donation. Cremation is also my choice.
Not an admirer of the late Senator. Agree that the hoopla was tasteless.
ReplyDeleteA huge circus.
DeleteYes, it was ostentatious and somewhat of a three ringed circus, but from what I've read, McCain planned his own funeral. That it was covered by the media so comprehensively felt, in my opinion, intrusive. But hey, I don't live that kind of life, or have that kind of money!
ReplyDeleteAs for the thousands of people queuing to view the coffin, I often think some kind of quiet mass hysteria takes place in these situations. (Ref: Princess Diana...)
I agree on the mass hysteria.
DeleteAnd the 'I was there when____' for posterity.
Yeah, he planned his own funeral. I always thought it would be better to have your funeral before you die. Big party, get to hear what everyone thinks of you, smell the flowers, listen to the music.
I didn't watch his, and was kind of curious at the fact Ms. Franklin was posed in 2 different colored suits in 2 different caskets.
ReplyDeleteDid McCain pay the transportation costs, as well!? I think the family wanted the media circus. Whatever floats your boat, I guess!
My husband wants the whole nine yards. I want cremation and no public service. I avoid every funeral I can!
I won't go to a funeral unless I can't avoid it.
DeleteThey're just such a strange ritual.
I understand the funeral isn't for the dead person but for the people left behind, but it's still bizarre and surreal and speaking just from my personal experience, it doesn't help anything except the funeral directors.
ReplyDeleteIt certainly felt as if there was a big anti-Trump thing tagged on the back of all of this,
There is anti-Trump on everything. It's hard to remain neutral, but if one can while watching and listening to the coverage of everything political, it's hard to miss the bias against him. I'm not a fan, he seems like a horrible, nasty individual on a personal level. It's an odd world we live in where someone like that can be the president. But then, that applies to pretty much everyone else who's been the president,too.
DeleteI remember as a kid, how name calling was such a horrible thing and I went through school next to kids that had these tags attached to them that just kept them down. I'm ashamed I didnt challenge that. His name calling on twitter takes me right back to those days at school. He needs to be grounded and his phone taken away.
DeleteYes. He takes everything personally, but should remember that everyone who has held his office has been hated and vilified.
DeleteHis childish commentary on Twitter and the petulant little boy attitude are embarrassing, for him and for us.