I attended a funeral this morning, and while sitting there before the service began quietly contemplating the things one contemplates at a funeral, it did occur to me that I could count all the deceased I have ever viewed in person on one hand.
And one of those was Vladimir Lenin.
Yeah… I kinda got you beat there. My father was a funeral director so I probably lost count of that number when I was about four years old.
I’m extremely curious how you came to be among those filing past Lenin’s corpse. In addition, have you ever considered how removed we are from the universal phenomena of death? The hospital experince seperates us from our loved ones at the time when we need to be with them the most. I never would have guessed this until I sat quietly at my grandmother’s bedside, holding her hand when she simply breathed out and didn’t take the next breath. No buzzers or alarms, no electric paddles. Just profound silence and a sense of a life now complete.
Why Wally, I just went to Red Square and got in line like every one else. My regret is not doing the same at Mao’s tomb in Tiananmen Square the previous year.