Why Just Honor The Dead, Love The Living Instead

We live in a society that idolizes the dead.  For most people a funeral or memorial service is a platform for saying what’s on their mind.  We find it more “comfortable” to stand on an altar or at a podium crying our sentiments so that everyone else in the room will know how we feel….too bad the person those words were intended for is cold in a box with ears that hear no more.

Now I am sure everyone who believes in the afterlife or the existence of the everlasting soul is saying “They hear me”….but that’s NOT my point.  My point is that Eulogies and Dedication Ceremonies are more for those of us left behind than they are about the person who has passed.  It’s OK to Honor the dead…but why not try to LOVE the LIVING.

When Michael Jackson was alive he was struggling to “make ends meet” (or at least that is what the media would have us believe)  According to his “camp” he sure could have used a burst in record sales and his upcoming concert in London was meant to boost his financial portfolio a bit….yes, tickets sold out, but record sales in this country were mediocre to say the least in the last few years….CNN announces “The King of Pop has Died” and the records flew off the shelves and bidding on EBay went through the roof.  Family members and peers of “the King” stood on stage and sang (or spoke) his praises….I have to ask myself how many of those people told him when he was alive just how they felt. (I feel certain his little girl did)  I am not saying I was a huge Michael Jackson fan, I’m just making a point.

Marilyn Monroe was a soul who longed to be loved.  She was lost in love and self esteem for most of her life.  All she wanted was to know that she was being loved for the person she was, not for the sex symbol she represented….she died with a lonely heart and a broken soul and yet, she is idolized SO much in death that someone was willing to pay a million dollars (or something to that affect) just to be buried near her.  Oh come on.  I have to ask myself how many people would have paid that much money to sit and talk to her or spend an afternoon with her when she was at her loneliest point.  Again, I am not saying I am a Marilyn follower, I’m just stating the facts as I see them.