Perspectives on Death

Today when I walked into the bookstore I was informed that the church from which we rent (they are in the same building.) would be holding two wakes with a funeral tomorrow. Thus, there would be a body lying in state for the whole day but "Don't worry, he's in heaven." What does that mean? That if he's not in heaven I have something to worry about? Zombies? Ghosts? What?

At around 11, a customer walked in and said, "You know there's a dead guy over there?" I said that I had been informed of the days events, and the customer said, "Yeah well, the door is wide open and there's no one in there, he's just lying there and the door's not shut." Both the "door wide open" and the "no one in there" indicates this person believes a dead body should be watched and if possible, barred from getting up and leaving the building. (In case you were wondering shutting the door does not block a person's view of the room; the double doors are glass, as well as a floor-to-ceiling sliding glass door, and 50% of the walls are made of glass.)

To appease the customer, I went up to the church office to ask Emily if we could close the doors, even if they were still waiting for the flower arrangements to come. She said that there was, in fact, someone "watching" the body... watching it for what I am not sure... but it would not be a problem to close the doors.

At 2, when the wake was just starting, a customer came in crying because she dropped by to pick up a book and had not been informed that this man was dead. He'd been the best man at her father's wedding in 1953 and she came in in complete shock that he was now dead.

When Lakshmi came in, she looked at me and said, "There's a body over there." I was tempted to respond, "Huh... wonder how that got there." But I didn't. Unfortunately for Lakshmi, the kitchen and lunch room are down a hallway directly adjacent from the pulpit, which is where the coffin was. She braved it and went to get some water.

Thinking over the whole day, though, it seems to me that I've become somewhat desensitized in some ways. I've been to so many funerals that it doesn't really phase me to see a dead body, and honestly, I've had scarier nightmares. I can put on soft, peaceful music to match the mood of the service, but I can go right on suggesting books for people and filling out order forms just like every other day. I wonder if this is a good thing or a bad thing.