Commemorating the death of people with flowers
The public outpouring of grief over the death of Michael Jackson brought to mind something that has been niggling me for a while. I do not understand why people have to pile flowers (in cellophane wrappers), soft toys, scarves and other memorabilia at the scene of an accident or outside the home of someone who has died. These tributes generally stay there until the Council risks public outrage and clears away a mass of rotting vegetation, non-biodegradable rubbish and ruined toys. The amount of wasted money involved in the original purchase and the clear up must be enormous and for what? The dead person may appreciate the sentiment but cannot respond and can hardly play with the toys; the florist may make a fortune but the flowers will not have been enjoyed as they would have been in a vase; the planet cannot be any better off because of the extra landfill waste.
I admit that I am not the most sentimental of people but I begrudge the cost of wreathes and would rather give contributions to charity. I also think planting a tree or bush in memory of the person more environmentally friendly and enduring. Incidentally, hospitals no longer accept sprays from funerals as vases are now designated a potential source of infection, not so great as that of doctor’s unwashed hands I would suggest, but then I am a cynic!
Anyway to get back to the flowers left by the roadside, tied to railings, against trees and so on. Would you want to be commemorated with a bunch of blackened flower heads and discoloured ribbons? The phenomenon is not new. I regularly used to pass the tree on Barnes Common that ended the career of Marc Bolan and it still has yellow ribbons and flowers attached by fans thirty years on. I am sure we all remember the outpourings of grief at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, but this was not a first either. I recall seeing film of the funeral of Rudolf Valentino, the silent movie star, and the roads were similarly packed with crying women. This I believe is a manifestation of mass hysteria, they may be upset but none of them was personally acquainted with the deceased and their lives would not have been significantly altered by the loss. Likewise the troubled Mr Jackson.
I understand families wanting to see the site of the death of a loved one for themselves but why the need to litter? When we do lose someone close to us we are devastated, life will never be the same again. For some there may be true hardship, for others loneliness, often there is regret over things left unsaid or undone. Death is final, there are no second chances but all these emotions relate to us not the dead. There may be regret at the lack of fulfilment of potential of a young person, the waste of abilities of a skilled one but for them this was their allotted span, wherever we put tributes they are not there, they are with God and we should be happy for them. God calls us home when He will. When we become believers we begin an eternal life of which the human bit is just a tiny segment. Recently Ranulph Fiennes was asked how he would have felt about dying on Everest, he said that he did not care where or when he died as long as it was quick and he did not suffer. I concur, I do not worry about dying as it means I will just enter the next stage of living but not too soon I hope. I have many things still to do.
