The dead

**TUCKER** · 10-11-2008, 04:24 AM

Okay lets face it we all are born to die. In the meantime we are compelled to live a slow, often painful life, until we die. Looking at things this way begs the question, "Then what is the point of life?" But we'll save that for another time.

As we live, we all have friends that we've grown up with. These are the ones we can't lie to, even if we wanted to. We don't always like them, but we always've loved them. They've played a major role in shaping us into who we are today, whether either of us knew it or not. My wife told me the other day as we learned that one of my "FRIENDS" had passed that there are only a couple left that no me like he did.

As I was reflecting on this journey to adulthood, that we shared, I thougt about the funeral of one of our other friends. We called him "FAST ERNIE" because of his long time racing skills. He was the kind of guy you had to know to like because he seldom had a good word to say to anyone. He was not well liked, and he didn't care! At the service, many of were there and at one point, his sister rolled up her sleeves and let him have it. It has long been said that "One shouldn't speak ill of the dead" but this was the ultimate. She said what we all knew to be true, but I doubt any of us would've said it. When she finished after about 10 minutes of verbally killing "Fast Ernie" again, I wanted to throw her ass in there with him! His son, his exwife, his brothers and sisters and us, his friends, were all there. Needless to say, there wasn't a whole lot of weeping and wailing. I didn't oppose anything she was saying because all of it was true, but I just thought it was so callous for her to go and on and on about it.

Now last thursday the friend that inspired this piece died. He was a sorry mothertucker with 2 adult sons, an exwife and no insurance. He lived alone and hadn't lights at his house in over 2 yrs. He worked at Fed Ex for 4 or 5 years and just got fired about 3 months ago for fighting on the job with a coworker. He says a young boy insulted him and then hit him and of course it was on, so they fired both of them. My sister in law went through the neighborhood, as is customary, to collect donations for a spray from the neighborhood and cash to help the family with expenses. They collected a sum total of $17 and a lot of reasons why noone would give or gave as little as possible. My brother passed about 5 yrs ago and when it was done for him, $1,500 was collected from these same 5 or 6 streets. I realize economic times have changed since then, but from the comments my sister in law told me about, the end result would've been the same if nothing had changed.

Now I said all that to say this, DO YOU THINK ITS OKAY TO SPEAK ILL OF THE DEAD?

**cc5k** · 10-12-2008, 02:40 AM

LOL... I'm the only one who's voted "Yes" so far.

I swear, y'all are a bunch of supersticious politically-correct pointy-haired candy-asses.

**TUCKER** · 10-12-2008, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cc5k

i swear, y'all are a bunch of supersticious politically-correct pointy-haired candy-asses.

not me!

**BISHOP** · 10-13-2008, 08:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cc5k

LOL... I'm the only one who's voted "Yes" so far.

I swear, y'all are a bunch of supersticious politically-correct pointy-haired candy-asses.

Been called worse by better folks than you

I don't respond or read every post. 1st I even looked at this one. When I saw "The Dead" I thought it meant the thread itself was dead. LOL

Speak the truth.

**Refreshing** · 10-13-2008, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TUCKER

DO YOU THINK ITS OKAY TO SPEAK ILL OF THE DEAD?

Of course it's okay. Hell, if you have something against me, I don't want you at my memorial service acting like a two face punk saying good things about me just because I'm dead. WTF is up with that? I never understood the stigma that surrounds dead people. Why do they become untouchable all of a sudden? People say, 'respect the dead.' WHY???

**angeladc** · 10-13-2008, 10:51 AM

Well if i didn't like the person , i wouldn't show up at their funeral because of that lil saying "paying your respects" if i didn't respect that person what am i showing up for?i'm not going to lie to people about how their character is whether alive or dead the truth still remains.

**TUCKER** · 10-13-2008, 11:21 AM

Here are a couple of things I've learned about the industry and the procedure recently:

1. The county cemetery is "The pauper's grave" that we've heard so much about over the yrs. John Doe's, aborted babies, amputated limbs, and people who can't afford a burial service are interned there.

2. There is no graveside service at the county facility.

3. You can rent a coffin for the service, complete with plastic flowers, etc. When the service is done, the funeral home will take the deceased back to the home, remove him from the coffin, put him in a wooden box and bury the body at the county facility.

I know these are things that are not nice to talk about, but these are some of the things that are eventualities for everyone. Some people prefer this kind of service to save money. Y'all know how much a funeral can cost!

REFRESHING: A superstitious person would think that person would have to carry those negatives with them into eternity.

**Refreshing** · 10-13-2008, 11:38 AM

Exactly. The undertaker has NO respect for the dead. You'd be amazed at some of the things that go on behind closed doors. Why is everyone else walking around on eggshells?