RENAISSANCE JUNE 2020

Reflections 41 Monthly Renaissance June 2020 I returned from the graveyard filled with the additional grief of what I had just witnessed. These were all highly educated men, belonging to the upper social class of our society. So one cannot dismiss this atrocious behaviour by the usual thought - “lack of education.” My mind ached with different questions. Why are we so poorly evolved morally and socially that we fail to restrain ourselves to remain silent for as little as 20 minutes, as a mark of respect for the deceased and the family? Why can’t we use those 20 minutes to recite prayers for the departed soul or else why can’t we just stand in silence and perhaps think of our life in the Hereafter which all of us are going to face sooner or later? The endemic disease of hypocrisy in our society has infected our funeral proceedings as well. Few friends and relatives are affected with any real grief. Most appear at the funeral to present themselves before the family of the deceased and have their attendance registered. Some even use these occasions to initiate and maintain social connections. After all, funerals are the only occasion when you can visit any family uninvited. Perhaps we need to develop better do’s and don’ts for “graveside” manners with particular emphasis on reminding people that as a mark of respect for all those who are buried in the graveyard to please abstain from non essential use of mobile phones and further, not to mistake the graveyard for a social caf é where they can engage in idle talk. And if one is too enslaved by these addictions, then it may be better to stay away and not pollute the peaceful surroundings of the silent graveyard. Let the dead rest in peace! ـــــــــــــــــــــــــ