I attended a funeral last June and was in one of the cars going to the cemetery. Evidently I have had the luck to have so far, not attended very many funerals (or at least very many where the burial site was driving-distance from the funeral service) – so much so to the point that I didn’t even know the motorcade was a thing. I had only consciously registered it when President Reagan died in 2004 and the motorcade passed near where I was living in Thousand Oaks on its way to the Reagan Library where he would be buried. But as I learned – the body isn’t just delivered and everyone just shows up at the burial but rather is taken from the church to the cemetery by the hearse along with a line of cars – which…is what a motorcade is… am I explaining this poorly? I feel like I’m stumbling over this description and clunky set of recollections which I’m only now live-piecing together.
Point is – when we drove down the main street of town, an older gentleman on the sidewalk stopped and bowed his head and put his hand over his heart until the procession passed and that image stuck with me as such a classy gesture. He presumably didn’t know who was in that hearse, and had no obligation to give it any mind, yet he paused and showed respect – not really to a stranger, but to the strangers loved ones. After all, life is for the living – and funerals aren’t really about “showing respect for the dead” but rather they are gatherings that use that conceit as a way of giving excuse for the surviving friends and family of the deceased to congregate, grieve collectively, and console each other. To have a stranger show the human kindness to other strangers that silently says “I’m sorry for your loss” in such a completely “you didnt have to do that” way is really touching.
What made me think of this story was this post on Facebook in where the same thing happened except the single guy on the street is replaced by a bunch of kids who stopped playing basketball and knelt.
While attending a family funeral the procession passed a group of young boys shooting hoops. Take a look closely. They took a knee not out of disrespect but honor. They was not an adult insight to tell them to stop playing. This meant a great deal to our family. May God bless each one as I feel they will achieve greatness.