Try To Be Kinder

In his own inimitable style, baseball’s Yogi Berra once said, “You should always go to other people’s funerals, because if you don’t, they might not go to yours.”

And then there’s the advice of another man with a very different approach to honoring the dead. With the exception of a few immediate family members — this man never attended the funeral of any of his close friends or acquaintances. When asked why this was so, he said, “whenever I hear of the passing of someone I know, instead of attending the funeral, I go to visit someone living — someone I know who is sick, or lonely or hurting in some way. In this way, I believe I am truly honoring the soul that has passed.”

Now I am not suggesting that we stop attending funerals — or attend them in the hopes that the departed will one day miraculously appear at our own — but nevertheless, the point shouldn’t be lost on us. Of…