OT - What I did yesterday.

H@rry · Jul 3, 2013

Yesterday I attended the funeral of M@ry Ruth's aunt in Winchester. While I was there I noticed that the people around me were a lot different than the ones in Huntsville. In my memory I was taken back to my childhood upbringing in a small rural town in Alabama. The lady and her family had been well know to most of the locals and obviously held in pretty high esteem. The attendance was very large. The outpouring of support and sympathy from friends and family was touching to see. The compassion and grief of grown grandsons was also very touching to me. I saw a grown grandson stand in front of the coffin for a minute and reach out and gently touch the hand of his grandmother. The people were dressed in everything from a coat and tie to a brand new pair of bib overalls. The hearse was a mule drawn carriage using the family's own mules (per the will of the deceased). During the funeral procession to the cemetery the oncoming traffic stopped on the side of the road. I saw three employees of an oil change shop that had walked out to the street and were standing in reverence. I observed one elderly gentleman standing beside his car with hat over heart in respect. After the service we gathered at the family home for a feast of food provided by well wishers. It was in one respect a family reunion.

How far has the present society and this generation gone? Are city people too busy now to stop what they're doing to show respect for the feeling of the family of a deceased loved one?

No, we can't go back; but I've been there and I'm glad for it.

ChrisKey · Jul 3, 2013

Great post H@rry. It always warms my heart to see people paying respects to people they don't even know. Even if it is just to take 3 minutes out of your BUSY schedule to stop your car and pay your respects and show remorse for the families that lost a loved one.

beaslbob · Jul 3, 2013

+1

...

aslmx · Jul 3, 2013

Same here and my boys are being taught to do the same.

shovelrider · Jul 3, 2013

Respect and compassion... qualities that are fading away(in society as a whole) but make the world a better place.

JSB · Jul 7, 2013

Several years ago, after having returned to Alabama from many years in California, I was in the funeral procession for my father down in Calhoun county. On the way to the cemetery, I was moved by the respect shown by total strangers. Mostly, I remember a frail old man in his overalls, working out in a roadside ditch in front of his house, with a shovel or sling blade or something. He stopped his labors, turned and face the procession and put his hat over his heart. I have always appreciated that gesture, and I will never know who he is.

pickupman66 · Jul 8, 2013

H@rry, very touching post. One if the reasons we love living here is the people. While at times it seems everyone is in everyone's business, the community around here is very good. We love our church and our neighbors. Which btw, you should have stopped by. I have some frags of your corals for you.

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