Tib wrote a post about death this week and judging by the comments it is an issue that both fascinates and scares us all. I have written about death before in my own blog and probably mentioned it here. Death to me is different than death to you guys, I have lost a few people very close to me, people who died young, people who died suddenly or people who died slowly,some people who walked beside death but never subcumbed to his charms, death was a companion known to me as I grew up. These were my personal experiences of death, they were no less upsetting or tragic because of my family business.My family business is death, undertaking to be precise, as a result death to me is natural, it's a circle of life, is seasonal, we are born, we live then we die and return to the earth from which we came. But although death is natural, and bodies hold no fear for me, loss still scares me, the loss is not something you can hold, or see it's the absence of the person you care about in your life, be it that they have died or they have left the country or left your relationship, it's loss that is the killer...loss that makes you feel scared and lonely. Loss that makes you call their mail box, or listen to their answering machine.
I have lots of funny stories about dead bodies, I have lots of creepy stories too, I have one or two disturbing ones, I had plannd to write a post that included a few of those, but I am worried if I do it will belittle peoples sadness and loss?
I don't think so - I think it's part of the way we deal with the fear of the unknown, our own mortality - with black humour andcomedy.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't like to hear a story about my own mother's corpse (ew, don't even like saying that!)being interfered with I admit - ! - but I think it's only an issue for those close to the person, for others it doesn't have any resonance. I never knew my 18 stone Great Aunt Nina, and can laugh at the story of the pall bearers beginning to drop her coffin, and my shorter father running up to help and ending up opposite his cousin Fergus, who ran up to help on the other side and is v tall... you can picture the scene with my father on tiptoe, and Fergus trying to hunch down to keep the massive weight of the coffin even.
I agree with Jo, it's a typical if you didn't laugh you'd cry situation. I think you should tell dead bodies stories, those who don't want to read are warned!
ReplyDeleteWeird the way Jo presumed your stories were about interfering with dead bodies :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think so either and you have some fantastic stories as I remember.
I'm not sure about the dead stories. I heard a funny one about a great aunt of a friend's friend falling into the grave at a funeral after the coffin had been laid down and everyone was turning to leave.
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