Saturday, September 22, 2007

Is Nothing Sacred Anymore?

Mom and I went to the funeral home last night to pay our respects to the family and friends of a dear sweet Auxiliary member who passed away Wednesday.  The side parking lot was full so I drove on to the back parking lot.  Imagine my surprise when the first row of parking was blocked - I couldn't get through and had to drive on to the next row.  It wasn't blocked because the lot was full or anything like that; it was blocked by family members of the deceased partying out in the parking lot.  Hand to heaven, I am not making that up.  They had 4 SUVs and trucks parked side-by-side and had the truck beds full of coolers and even had a bar set up in the back of one of the trucks. We parked and walked in to the funeral home, and couldn't help but gawk at the partiers out in the parking lot.  It reminded me of the mass of twenty-somethings I encountered in the parking lot at this year's Thunder Over Louisville. 

I'm afraid and saddened that this is not an isolated incident; this is the third time I've seen parking lot partying going on at a funeral home this summer.  Now, don't get me wrong - I'm all for having a good time, and I realize that people grieve in different ways, but to me, this is just downright disrespectful.  Their loved one is laying in a casket inside of the funeral home while they're out in the parking lot partying.  It just makes no sense to me.  This old world sure has gone crazy. 

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The first time I ever heard of this was when a guy my husband knew was killed a few years back.  He had been out drinking and was driving home in his work truck which contained several oxygen tanks.  He ran off the road and crashed.  The tanks blew and a massive fire ensued.  He was burned terribly over his entire body but somehow managed to live.  He spent several weeks laying in the hospital burned to a crisp before he finally died.

In the parking lot of the funeral home all his buddies were tailgating.  When it was time for the funeral procession they all turned their blue Solo cups upside down on their antennas and drove to the gravesite.

Rather than learn a lesson from this tragedy, they all felt like it's what the guy would have wanted.  In some strange way they see it as a tribute, not as being disrespectful.  Sad.