I dislike funerals, most of them at least. I have not once enjoyed one, and I know they are not meant to be 'enjoyable', which might be why I don't like them. Though I am not sure how I'd like for my family, friends and relations to part from what remains of me after I'm brain-dead; what I've seen so far is not the way...
I went to a funeral this afternoon, not someone I know, I went there because the Red Cross was asked to provide First Aid at the event. It concerned a young man who died while on vacation with a student body of Alpinists, one of two who perished during the exercising of their sport. I had never and have never heard of this, and never hope to hear of this again. There were about 350 people in the building, not nearly enough for the government to demand our presence; and not nearly enough for us to be occupied. We usually begin being deployed when the number of people rises above 600 or so, we are used to dealing with thousands of people at an event. Regardless, we were asked to come, so we came.
Well we were intensely busy there... one guy felt sick and looked about to pass out, he recovered without our attention (though one of us felt the need to walk along with him) and one handsome blond thing actually collapsed, but right into the arms of who I was told was a doctor of medicine; before I could get to him. There was more eye candy, but somehow this didn't seem like the occasion to pick up someone. The blond thing had his eyes open when I got to him and was in good hands - not that passing out like that is of any interest to me - so I aborted mission. I told a colleague who came over as well that he was going to be fine; but she persisted. Poor old hag, she probably felt just as bored as I did.
The worst of it all is that we were there with four medics. A number more common for high risk events or events with (at least) over 1500 people. This was neither. We felt very much out of place (especially with our extremely prominent Red Cross outfit) and really completely useless.
Tomorrow we have the other guy's funeral. From what I've heard I'll have less nice colleagues (those were okay today) and the whole thing is to take less time than today. And for some reason the funeral facility feel like they only need three of us tomorrow. Definitely something to be discussed to avoid future deployment of Red Cross medics on a funeral with less than one-thousand attendees.
Well, at least the music was good. He had Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Art, and (funny coincidence) the Jeff Buckley thing I posted a couple of days back (Hallelujah). I was so pleased we were spared The Rose and that there was no religious bullshit involved. The rest of the music was uplifting and relatively good - though unfamiliar to me. Come to think of it, I guess this was the best funeral I have ever attended.
Funerals shouldn't be fun. They need to be serious and there needs to be room for grief, but I'd like it if we were able to drop all the silly traditions and fake respectfulness in all its unfortunate and even strange forms. Of course I wish everyone a good farewell to their loved ones, but can we please do with less bullshit and more casualness?
I went to a funeral this afternoon, not someone I know, I went there because the Red Cross was asked to provide First Aid at the event. It concerned a young man who died while on vacation with a student body of Alpinists, one of two who perished during the exercising of their sport. I had never and have never heard of this, and never hope to hear of this again. There were about 350 people in the building, not nearly enough for the government to demand our presence; and not nearly enough for us to be occupied. We usually begin being deployed when the number of people rises above 600 or so, we are used to dealing with thousands of people at an event. Regardless, we were asked to come, so we came.
Well we were intensely busy there... one guy felt sick and looked about to pass out, he recovered without our attention (though one of us felt the need to walk along with him) and one handsome blond thing actually collapsed, but right into the arms of who I was told was a doctor of medicine; before I could get to him. There was more eye candy, but somehow this didn't seem like the occasion to pick up someone. The blond thing had his eyes open when I got to him and was in good hands - not that passing out like that is of any interest to me - so I aborted mission. I told a colleague who came over as well that he was going to be fine; but she persisted. Poor old hag, she probably felt just as bored as I did.
The worst of it all is that we were there with four medics. A number more common for high risk events or events with (at least) over 1500 people. This was neither. We felt very much out of place (especially with our extremely prominent Red Cross outfit) and really completely useless.
Tomorrow we have the other guy's funeral. From what I've heard I'll have less nice colleagues (those were okay today) and the whole thing is to take less time than today. And for some reason the funeral facility feel like they only need three of us tomorrow. Definitely something to be discussed to avoid future deployment of Red Cross medics on a funeral with less than one-thousand attendees.
Well, at least the music was good. He had Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Art, and (funny coincidence) the Jeff Buckley thing I posted a couple of days back (Hallelujah). I was so pleased we were spared The Rose and that there was no religious bullshit involved. The rest of the music was uplifting and relatively good - though unfamiliar to me. Come to think of it, I guess this was the best funeral I have ever attended.Funerals shouldn't be fun. They need to be serious and there needs to be room for grief, but I'd like it if we were able to drop all the silly traditions and fake respectfulness in all its unfortunate and even strange forms. Of course I wish everyone a good farewell to their loved ones, but can we please do with less bullshit and more casualness?
3 comments:
I don't like funerals either. A simple memorial service out of respect for a departed friend or loved one will suffice.
I've never been to a funeral where paramedics were present on standby, although I've seem them in the background on televised funerals of the famous where there are thousands in attendance.
Anton, I've never heard of a funeral with Red Cross staff at the side, just in case. Wasn't it a training event?
Next time, look out for the cuties in advance, and assist them even when not needed. ;)
On the other hand thanks for the mentioning of "Bridge Over Troubled Water", something I can add to my funeral-music which only lists "Always Look On The Bright Site Of Life" by Monty Python.
Funerals should be a reflection of someones life, laughter is part of it too.
No, we were there to give First Aid to whomever might need it. For real. I was baffled that they called us to aid at this small-scale event, but like I said; they called, we came.
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