Friday, August 01, 2014

A short story of passing in the street.

I don't recite the Pledge of Allegiance, stand for the National Anthem, or recognize prayer as sponsored by public institutions. When a funeral procession crosses my path, though - and it happens quite a bit when you live down the street from a funeral home - I stop what I'm doing, take off my hat if I'm wearing one, and stand in silent solidarity until it passes. That's not nationalism, militarism, or theocratic hegemony. That's someone's family, and we all have those.

2 comments:

Iamhoosier said...

"Like"

w&la said...

John Donne in Meditation 17
"Nunc lento sonitu dicunt, Morieris.
(Now this bell tolling softly for another,
says to me, Thou must die.)

Ernest Hemingway "borrowed" Donne's phrase:

"Do not ask for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee."

We are all mortal, we understand we all must die. We share this with our brothers and sisters and show our respect when they die.