The Good Funeral: Death, Grief, and the Community of Care
"What happened to me while working at my father's funeral home was that folks began to treat me like a hero. They were so grateful when we would show up at the hospital or nursing home or family home in the middle of the night, so grateful for the way we handled their dead carefully and wi...
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| Contributors: | |
| Format: | Electronic Book |
| Language: | English |
| Subito Delivery Service: | Order now. |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Louisville
Westminster John Knox Press
2013
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| In: | Year: 2013 |
| Reviews: | [Rezension von: Long, Thomas G., 1946-, The good funeral] (2014) (Rich, Matthew A.)
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| Further subjects: | B
Electronic books
B Funeral rites and ceremonies-United States |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Parallel Edition: | Erscheint auch als: 9781611643213 |
| Summary: | "What happened to me while working at my father's funeral home was that folks began to treat me like a hero. They were so grateful when we would show up at the hospital or nursing home or family home in the middle of the night, so grateful for the way we handled their dead carefully and with respect. Or leaving after a long day's visitation at the funeral home, when a widow would hold me by the shoulders and tell me how very comforting it was to have us parking the cars and holding the doors and taking the coats and casseroles, directing folks to the proper parlor and bringing the flowers and for 'just being there.' Or turning from the graveside once everything that could be done had been done, how they would shake my hand or hug me and thank me profusely because 'we couldn't have done this without you . . . thank you. . . God bless you. . .' or heartfelt words to that effect. Such effusions made me feel useful and capable and helpful, as if I’d accomplished the job well done and all I really did was show up, pitch in, do my part. Before long I began to understand that showing up, being there, helping in an otherwise helpless situation was made heroic by the same gravity I had sensed when I first stood in that embalming room as a boy-the presence of the dead made the presence of the living more meaningful somehow, as if it involved a basic and intuitively human duty to witness." -from Chapter 1, "How We Come to Be the Ones We Are". |
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| Item Description: | Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources |
| ISBN: | 161164321X |