Deathly Silent Easter
My aunt came to visit from Hong Kong last night..
So the first thing we did today after lunch was to go visit Grandma and Grandpa at the mausoleum. My mom wanted me to talk to them, but I felt rather awkward talking aloud to a vault occupied by the dead. After all, my grandmother can't hear me because her ears are no longer functional now that they're embalmed, and my grandfather can't hear me because his ears are now ash.
Instead, I spoke to them in silence, through that ubiquitous connection that binds to the common provenance all that was, that is, and that will be in the universe. In other words, I communicated to them the same way I communicate to God in my prayers, when I need Him to give me the strength to stand up when I fall, to give me the determination and resolve to fulfill my goals, and to keep my parents from finding out that I got the dog really drunk.
Being the Easter long weekend, there were a lot of people at the funeral home/cemetary complex. One thing I noticed, though, was that nearly all the occupants of the mausoleum were either Chinese, or Italian. I guess that some from other ethnicities and cultures would rather have their deceased relatives under six feet of dirt, to keep them from coming out and exacting their wrath on their living kin for blowing off their hard-earned inheritance on beer and potato chips. Or perhaps for getting the dog drunk, too.
After the solemn visit, we took my aunt to Metrotown Centre for some shopping. Being perhaps the largest shopping mall in the Lower Mainland area, we weren't surprised to find the mall open, but we were appalled to see all the stores closed. Yet there were so many people wandering around the mall with no place to go.
This is really stupid. In fact, why don't you follow me through the cognitive path of the successful businessman's mind? Yes, you can do it. Trust me. Follow me as I ask you these simple questions:
(At this point, if you think I should be saying "businessperson", then please fuck off. You damn well know that I don't mean the male gender in particular, so I don't need the likes of you to confound my language with political correctness bullshit.)
If everybody's on holiday for the long weekend, would you expect more, or less people in your shopping mall?
If there are more people in the mall, would you expect more, or less business?
If there will be more business, would you want to open, or close your store?
I hope you reached the right conclusion, assuming you want to make money. And no, you cannot cite the Easter long weekend being a religious holiday for not opening your store. Religion has been used as an excuse to justify things from skipping final exams, to blowing people up.
And certainly don't blame Jesus if you don't make your quarterly profit forecasts.
So the first thing we did today after lunch was to go visit Grandma and Grandpa at the mausoleum. My mom wanted me to talk to them, but I felt rather awkward talking aloud to a vault occupied by the dead. After all, my grandmother can't hear me because her ears are no longer functional now that they're embalmed, and my grandfather can't hear me because his ears are now ash.
Instead, I spoke to them in silence, through that ubiquitous connection that binds to the common provenance all that was, that is, and that will be in the universe. In other words, I communicated to them the same way I communicate to God in my prayers, when I need Him to give me the strength to stand up when I fall, to give me the determination and resolve to fulfill my goals, and to keep my parents from finding out that I got the dog really drunk.
Being the Easter long weekend, there were a lot of people at the funeral home/cemetary complex. One thing I noticed, though, was that nearly all the occupants of the mausoleum were either Chinese, or Italian. I guess that some from other ethnicities and cultures would rather have their deceased relatives under six feet of dirt, to keep them from coming out and exacting their wrath on their living kin for blowing off their hard-earned inheritance on beer and potato chips. Or perhaps for getting the dog drunk, too.
After the solemn visit, we took my aunt to Metrotown Centre for some shopping. Being perhaps the largest shopping mall in the Lower Mainland area, we weren't surprised to find the mall open, but we were appalled to see all the stores closed. Yet there were so many people wandering around the mall with no place to go.
This is really stupid. In fact, why don't you follow me through the cognitive path of the successful businessman's mind? Yes, you can do it. Trust me. Follow me as I ask you these simple questions:
(At this point, if you think I should be saying "businessperson", then please fuck off. You damn well know that I don't mean the male gender in particular, so I don't need the likes of you to confound my language with political correctness bullshit.)
If everybody's on holiday for the long weekend, would you expect more, or less people in your shopping mall?
If there are more people in the mall, would you expect more, or less business?
If there will be more business, would you want to open, or close your store?
I hope you reached the right conclusion, assuming you want to make money. And no, you cannot cite the Easter long weekend being a religious holiday for not opening your store. Religion has been used as an excuse to justify things from skipping final exams, to blowing people up.
And certainly don't blame Jesus if you don't make your quarterly profit forecasts.
posted by Cosmic Ocean at 5:38 PM
2 Comments:
Right on, in times of trial one prays not in words but in silence. I find it strange that some people must word it out so as to have other people overhear them. Perhaps in a people-oriented culture (as supposed to a God-oriented culture) it is not so unusual, because when you ask for strength, you are asking for strength from your fellow men, who are not onmiscience.
Re: question about businesses being closed. Haven't you heard the latest catch phrase 'the time economy'? It is said that nowadays people value time above money, and would rather trade off income for more personal free time. It's a trend that will not go away anytime soon.
Tell it like it is, sister. I think people address the departed aloud not for the sake of the deceased, but so that they themselves could hear it, so that their own words could reassure their uneasy little hearts.
I don't think everyone is on 'the time economy' bandwagon, and those who are not should get their lazy asses to work.
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