The Death of President Reagan
Sat., June 12, 12:28 PM
Some of you will not like this post. You know the drill: if you’re offended, just click on the little x in the upper right hand corner. I am not trying to start a debate.
Even though I was never a Reagan supporter, I have to show respect for the office, if not for the individual. This is not the time to be evaluating the man’s place in the greater scheme of things. I suspect that history will show that he may not have been the best president we ever had, but he certainly was not the worst either.
I feel sorrow for the end of his life; perhaps if he had not been so healthy otherwise, he would not have hung on so sadly for so long. And I do have admiration for the courage he showed when he announced his condition and knew what was coming. I’m not a fan of Nancy Reagan either, but I’m sorry for her ordeal, watching his husband drift away from her.
A funeral is an important event, to memorialize a person, to celebrate a life, to comfort the mourners. A state funeral is important because it gives many more people the opportunity to offer condolences. The music that was chosen was beautiful; but as you know, I personally find solace in music. We spent a week listening to remembrances of Mr. Reagan’s life and his personality, to preparations for the funeral, and everything else that had any bearing on the situation. I don’t want to complain about that.
What bothers me is the Box.
A coffin contains nothing but an empty shell. I believe that a person’s soul lives on, but I don’t believe it hovers over the Box. They hauled that Box to the presidential library so that people could walk stand in line waiting to walk past it, and then they hauled it to Washington so that more people could stand in the hot sun waiting to walk past the Box.
You don’t need the Box. Anyone can walk into a church and say a prayer or a few words of farewell. You don’t even need the church; some people feel greater peace in a garden or a forest, or in some special place of their own.
Jewish and Moslem customs recommend burial as soon as possible; the mourning comes later. Life has to go on, and the grieving is part of going on. I prefer to do it without the Box.
