Saturday, August 30, 2008

The Vocabulary Of Death

Let’s go back to the great optical illusion. My grandma had died. Every single time I had ever looked at that face I was looking at my grandma, but that was no longer true. As a fourth grader I couldn’t put it into words but I was able to figure it out later. Without a disciplined mental process, our emotions will peer through our eyes and respond appropriately. They will see that the loved one looks dead. They will then watch as the loved one is either buried in the ground or burned up in a fire. They will respond with sorrow, and only with sorrow, because that is all we are giving them to work with.

One way we can help ourselves is by being very careful, and very Christian about the words we use about death.

We do not buried anybody. And you better not start now. It’s against the law; it’s a monstrous act. The only way to bury a person is to bury them alive; and even then they won’t stay buried because their bodies will die and their souls will depart from that grave.
We did not, will not, bury a loved one at the Shady Rest Cemetery. We laid their body to rest at the Shady Rest Cemetery. Just saying it the right way will make you think about the hope. And the comfort is in the hope.

1 comment:

Liberty Watchman said...

Excelling point. Seems like a small thing grammatically, but how important to never allow ourselves to confuse the being with the body. Even if we know the difference -- even if we know that Grandma is not buried in the cemetary, only her body is -- our minds and spirits respond to the accuracy of the language we use. Good reminder to use accurate language.