Tuesday Hatred of death

I hate death. Reports on it are mostly about other people. In that respect it doesn’t differ too much from life. Anyway, death is a real nuisance.You may want it but as far as you know only others actually get it. And in them getting it, it will be you who needs to deal with it. Do you go to the funeral? Or do you break your break from the church rituals by attending the mass the evening before?

If you do attend either the funeral or the mass you will have to face the situation which dwarfs all other situations in awkwardness: to hug or not to hug.You hug and cause offense because the one you hugged was just dressed for the occasion because it is her or his profession to attend such occasions. You don’t hug and cause a family vendetta because you confirm your aloofness, even in the situation of all situations that doesn’t allow you to express any personal characteristic whatsoever. Let alone aloofness.

So I don’t attend and find a pretext to stay away unless the stakes are too high. I am safe when the stakes are high enough as it will be fully acceptable for my behavior to be erratic in that case. But when are stakes high enough to be too high to allow being absent?