Life Musings

There's this little boy who drowned recently. I scarcely knew his mother, but I felt that I should drop by for the viewing of the body. I couldn't attend the funeral due to my work schedule, but I did want to make an appearance of some sort. That's when I was reminded of how some people engage in very poor judgment at these events.

Case in point: As I was in line to view the body, this one woman started chatting up a storm with the lady in front of me. "Hey, how are you doing?" blah blah blah. She just kept going on an on in a casual, everyday tone of voice, and I thought it was distasteful. Why? Because the dead boy's mother was just a few feet away and could doubtlessly hear every word. I doubt that she would have been pleased to hear two people carry on an animated conversation as they were waiting in line to view her dead son's body. That's not the time for chitchat and pleasantries.

That's not all. One of this woman's teenaged daughters was engaged in another conversation, albeit in much lower, more hushed tones. At one point, this girl burst out into a chuckle. I immediately put my hand on her shoulder and said, "Hey, no laughter. Not here, not today." The woman in front of me said "Yeah, that's right." I'm glad that she agreed, as it showed that she understood that chuckling under the circumstances was in very poor taste.

Then there was this little boy who was running around the chapel, laughing. I asked myself, "Where are this kid's parents? They should be immediately running up to the child to hush him up!" As it turned out, this boy was associated with that very same family, though I don't know how. I turned to one of the girls in that family and said, "Hey, let's take him outside." (Of course, what I really meant is that THEY should take him outside of the chapel.)

I was disappointed that I had to tell someone from this family to do that. One of the parental units should have taken it upon themselves to do so. Instead, I had to be the one to tactfully point out that the boy was being disruptive.

Some families just don't act like they have proper breeding.