After Hearing U.S. Veteran Had No Family, Huge Crowd Attends His Funeral In Texas
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Status:
"I don't understand. But I don't care, so it works out."
(set 2 days ago)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat
Except they hadn't already had a funeral.
The notice you posted said it was going to be on such and such a date. The funeral home delayed it because they couldn't get in touch with the family. Their calls were not being returned.
This info is in the FoxNews link I posted.
The family states they attended the funeral. *shrugs shoulders*
I thought that if you were a Veteran in the State Of Texas, the Central Texas Veterans Cemetery is free of fees? or a very small amount, and can be buried with Military Honors?
So, I don't know why everyone is dissecting/analyzing this Funeral?
I am not going to add anything/guesses/thoughts, other than he ended up with a Military Honor Funeral.
As a Veteran, he is eligible.
How ever the Immediate or extended kin plays it out, in the long run, he is eligible for Military Honors.
And continue to pretend that you know if any of those people who thought they'd attend a veteran's burial also volunteer with any of the MANY agencies which assist the elderly. Maybe they do both.
And continue to pretend that you know if any of those people who thought they'd attend a veteran's burial also volunteer with any of the MANY agencies which assist the elderly. Maybe they do both.
We know you dont.
Yeah, I can be more sour. Give me time.
You're right — I don't volunteer with agencies that "assist the elderly." We don't even have "Meals on Wheels" where I live. But I saw one of my community's elders in a restaurant once saying he only had $8 to spend on lunch, so I discreetly told the server to put whatever he wanted on my bill. Don't need an "agency" to do that. My company contributes pretty seriously to Alaska's Pioneer Homes in their "Native food for elders" deal. I guess I could go on, but I'm not that interested in virtue-signaling on C-D. You?
Last edited by Metlakatla; 01-29-2019 at 07:47 PM..
And that would be a good reason. I've never known of a situation where the burial didn't immediately follow the funeral. Services, then immediately the procession to the gravesite.
"Funeral" to me is the whole process.
I have presided over several funerals where the burial didn't take place following the memorial service. Sometimes it is due to being in an area where they don't do winter burials, others the memorial is on the weekend but the burial can't take place until Monday at the earliest. When someone is cremated but they have the body present at the funeral home, the memorial is one day and the burial when the ashes come back.
While it is common for the memorial and burial to be at the same time, it is not always the case.
So? This only served to make those who showed up feel warm and fuzzy about themselves.
Where were these virtue-signalers when this guy was living and dying alone?
The time to visit and pay your respects to someone, is when they are alive and can appreciate it. Two weeks before my father passed away, a very special cousin came from out of town and spent a whole evening with him. This boosted his spirits and let him know that he was a valued person. The other family members waited until the funeral to come. I realized more than ever, why that cousin had always been my father's favorite nephew.
I truly think there should be some kind of volunteer "foster friends" program for those who are alone and would just like some company now and then. Of course, ideally, they would be matched with people with some mutual interests and compatible personalities.
I did something on this order as a volunteer, and having a visitor or a "new friend" show up really was a big deal for most of these people.
But it worked both ways. Lots of these people wanted a new friend, and they put out a lot of energy and they were damned interesting individuals after a few weeks....and not a volunteer obligation. I really enjoyed these relationships.
And continue to pretend that you know if any of those people who thought they'd attend a veteran's burial also volunteer with any of the MANY agencies which assist the elderly. Maybe they do both.
We know you dont.
Sourness is perfectly warranted.
The man is dead. A dead man needs nothing. When this man was alive, he needed things. Better benefits, for example. But, hey, that costs money. I have no doubt that some of the people in this story assisted veterans. But everyone who is not a fool understands that most of them saw a chance to wave the flag and feel good about themselves by doing something that was utterly meaningless save as an exercise in a "Wow, I'm such a super supporter of veterans!" self-delusion. And if you don't believe that there's some heavy crossover between this SUPPORT A VETERAN ONCE THEY'RE DEAD! group and support for tax cuts no matter how many programs used by veterans get gutted, then I'd love to talk to you about some lovely oceanfront property in Nebraska I have for sale.
Simply put, the needs people have aren't fun to address. Thy're difficult needs. They're often unpleasant to meet. They're costly. Ostentatious patriotic posturing after someone dies does that someone precisely zero good. But, hey, at least they don't cost anything and they make the posturers feel good.
I have no idea why so many say this is nothing. It's a nice story, can't we just leave it at that?
Because it ISN'T, in fact, a "nice" story. It's a story pointing out how careless people are of the living and how shallow they are, to think that showing up at a funeral makes any real difference whatsoever. And I still think it was a publicity stunt on the part of the funeral home, given that they in fact DID know the man had family. So they lied when they touted it around that he didn't.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve McDonald
The time to visit and pay your respects to someone, is when they are alive and can appreciate it. Two weeks before my father passed away, a very special cousin came from out of town and spent a whole evening with him. This boosted his spirits and let him know that he was a valued person. The other family members waited until the funeral to come. I realized more than ever, why that cousin had always been my father's favorite nephew.
THIS. When my mother died, I was living in Puerto Rico and it was quite a distance, an expense, and a lot of time off work to get to where her funeral would be held. I had JUST TAKEN two weeks off to go back to be with my dad after his open heart surgery because none of my sibs who lived 45 mins or less from him could be bothered.
So I called my grandmother and asked her if she wanted me there. She said no, it only would have made a difference if my mother were in the hospital or something, and that she had plenty of support in the form of other relatives in the area (including her younger daughter). So I didn't go.
And the first thing that happened was that my sibs who didn't have ANYTHING to do with our mother while she was alive (I'm the only one who allowed contact with her) started biotching about me not being there. She was furious - with them. Reminded them that I was the only one who even talked to my mother while she was still alive, and said if they thought it was so important for me to be there, they should have paid for a round trip ticket from PR for me. Shut them up, but it pissed me off that they upset her that way. She was still angry when she called me to tell me about it.
It mattered more to both her AND my mother that I had been around WHILE MY MOTHER WAS STILL BREATHING. It didn't matter at all to either one of them whether or not I was there after she was dead.
It did not matter to this guy that 100 people came to his funeral. It MIGHT have mattered if any one of that 100 had been around while he was still alive. We'll never know. And neither will they, or any of the people who think this was a "nice story", because it is unlikely any, if many, of those 100 strangers will take even a single hour out of one day to make a stranger's day less lonely.
Last edited by Pyewackette; 01-30-2019 at 11:59 AM..
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