Have any of you seen this ad for online funerals on the subway? http://basicfunerals.com/ To be honest, when I first saw it I couldn't help but feel a bit... Insulted maybe? Disgusted? Upset? Just absolutely aversive towards the idea.
I guess I just couldn't believe that our relationships, even those after death, could become virtual to such an extent. Seeing this online funeral service kind of made me angry. And if you look on their site, their main selling point is that it's Convenient and Affordable. But is that really what one should be thinking about when it comes time to plan or attend somebody's funeral?
I have been fortunate enough to have yet to attended a funeral, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about here. But I expect that one would only think of attending somebody's funeral if they had shared a least a bit of a rapport with. That you would only be willing to go to such a sad event because of how much the person had meant to you when they had been alive.
You may think that the dead would not want to inconvenience or force their loved ones to attend such a distressing ceremony. But Not attending doesn't help people in the long run. If convenience really was an issue, then the person's funeral may not have been worth attending in the first place.
Now with online funeral services, one may think that it allows you to show your respects even if you had something else that you absolutely HAD to do that day, and couldn't be physically be there for the few hours. But doesn't that dismiss the whole point of funerals? I'm not saying that a huge congregation of sad, grieving people is such a great idea. But I think that behind the heavy curtain of sorrow, the people there can form a support group for each other. An actual funeral can allow people, who would otherwise be crying in front of their computer screens, to realize that there are many others, friends and family, who feel the same way and that they can pull each other through the misery.
You may think that the dead would not want to inconvenience or force their loved ones to attend such a distressing ceremony. But Not attending doesn't help people in the long run. If convenience really was an issue, then the person's funeral may not have been worth attending in the first place.
Now with online funeral services, one may think that it allows you to show your respects even if you had something else that you absolutely HAD to do that day, and couldn't be physically be there for the few hours. But doesn't that dismiss the whole point of funerals? I'm not saying that a huge congregation of sad, grieving people is such a great idea. But I think that behind the heavy curtain of sorrow, the people there can form a support group for each other. An actual funeral can allow people, who would otherwise be crying in front of their computer screens, to realize that there are many others, friends and family, who feel the same way and that they can pull each other through the misery.
