Don't quite get it

Don't get me wrong. Ronald Reagan was a great man and I think its great that people want to pay their respects.

But I don't really understand how waiting in line for 7 or 8 hours to see a casket with a dead body inside constitutes paying your respects. I mean, its just a shell, right? Religious people will tell you the spirit doesn't die with the body. So what's the point?

I'm sure people have good intentions, but in my opinion the body should be laid to rest by family and close friends and leave it at that. If you want to pay your respects, go to the memorial service if you can, or even better, make a donation in his name to the Alzheimer's Foundation. But what is the point of visiting the body in the box??

Don't mind me. I've never been a fan or even understood the concept of an open casket funeral. Lying in a box certainly isn't how I want to remember the people I love.

Come to think of it, that's not how I want to be remembered either.

Posted by geekchik at June 8, 2004 12:40 PM