Tributes Trump Funerals

It's time to Break It Down!

Tributes Trump Funerals
Evelyn Dove

As advertised in the header, from time to time the work of guest bloggers may appear in this space. Though it has been quite some time, it has happened before…once, and it is happening again today. This week, I have the distinct pleasure to introduce to some and present to others, a Home Girl, a fellow UNC alum, an attorney, an author, but most important, a friend, Ms. Evelyn Dove.

She puts forth and develops a powerful case for re-examining and expanding upon a time-honored tradition; paying tribute to those near and dear to us. She uses the Michael Jackson case to underscore the lengths we go to usher folks into the afterlife, but ends by challenging us all to do better by our friends.

I enjoyed reading Ev’s work, and I gratefully accepted her generous offer to share her wisdom and insight with the Break It Down community, as a guest blogger. I am confident you will find her message compelling. Feel free to comment in the Break It Down comment section, to Ev directly, or by doing both. Her contact information appears at the end of the blog.

This was another Mother Lode of a week in terms of potential topics. In no particular order, things this week’s blog will not be about include:

• CNN’s BIA 2, that’s code for Black In America 2, for non
CNN viewers, kicks off tonight
• Judge Sonia Sotomayor seems a sure bet for conformation as the next
Supreme Court Justice
• Tiger Woods missed a cut last week at The British Open…
that must be news
• The Health Care debate rages on as the talking heads continue to
reiterate that now, 9 of 10 Republicans, and a majority, 55%,
of Independents do not approve of the way President Obama is
handling the issue
• Walter Cronkite, the venerable former TV news anchor, died at age
92 over the weekend
• America celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the
original moonwalk Monday, the popularity of Michael
Jackson’s version notwithstanding
• News outlets still managing to squeeze out alleged new developments in
Jackson’s death
• Details on the murder of Byrd and Melanie Billings, the Beulah,
Florida couple with 16 children, continue to emerge
• Michael Vick is a free to try to negotiate his way back into the
NFL
• India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Vietnam, China, and parts of the
Pacific were draped in a total eclipse of the sun earlier
today

However, in spite of that substantial listing of very weighty matters, it is all Ev today.

Thanks; enjoy!

Alpha Heel


Guest Blog

To my way of thinking, it is much better to give people their flowers while they live. That is why my vote every time will go to birthday parties, tributes, and roasts. At those events, the people being honored can hear the friends and family give testimonials. They can see the flowers and read the cards themselves. They get to know what people say about them publicly. They get to smile, cry, and laugh out loud.

As I experienced the intense and massive media coverage of Michael Jackson's funeral, I kept asking the air, "How many people said these things to him while he lived?" I hope the answer is "all of these and more." But then, he called himself a lonely man.

Funerals have a historic and traditional place. They help the family with the grief process. The ceremonies offer the bereaved opportunities to express how they felt about the dearly departed. But the honoree, in each and every instance, cannot be an active participant.

I am not proposing that our culture stop having funeral ceremonies or memorial services. To the contrary, I simply suggest that we do more honoring people while they live. When someone is going through a life challenge; that is when they need to hear from their friends. When someone is spiraling along a difficult path; offer a helping hand or counseling. When a person is lonely; telephone, visit, have lunch, go to a movie. Visit sick people so they know that their friends have not forgotten and forsaken them. If you cannot visit, send a note while stamps are still only forty-four cents.

In this age of universal internet and cellular communication, an old-fashioned letter through the regular mail is a rarity. But writing to someone to tell them how much they mean to you is a good way to give people tributes while they live. Tributes don't always have to be expensive and fancy.

The group song presented during Michael Jackson's funeral was called "Heal the World." Let's begin the healing by giving tributes to people we care about in small ways such as letters they can read, cards they can see, and flowers they can smell. You go first. Begin today doing what you would do if your friend died tomorrow.

***
Evelyn Dove is a prayer counselor and mediator with PathChoice Ministry,
539 Briary Run, Kinston, North Carolina, 28501 - 252/527-3950 - evdove03@yahoo.com
http://giving.unc.edu/women/Summer2007/page3/page3.html

Holla back!

Read my blog anytime by clicking the link: http://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/. A new post is published each Wednesday.