Thoughts From Another Funeral

This Tuesday was another day with time spent at a funeral home, another opportunity for sustained introspection.

In this case, the deceased was Tom Reed, a 92-year-old I first knew through my father as a fellow Oakland neighbor and later, through Reed’s children as school mates, and even later, with some of the children being friends of my wife.

First, let me commend the two grandchildren – both adults – who captured the essence of the man in their remarks at the funeral service.

Tom Reed epitomized what once was the fabric of this country. Born in the depths of the Great Depression, raised by an aunt after his mother died early in his life, he later facing the challenges of raising a large family on limited income. Through it all, Reed overcame and succeeded.

It’s an exemplary story that once could have been told and retold involving others of his generation. These days, not so much.

The term “legacy” was oft-heard on this day and what greater legacy can a man leave than an extended family that does the right thing, professionally and spiritually? And what of his impact beyond that family through various activities with community-oriented organizations?

Do not mistake this with the current crop of Johnstown elites who use nonprofit setups as shells to extract money from the public purse and redistribute it to themselves and political connections.

As the pastor conducting this funeral service noted, sometimes one is recognized for good deeds toward the community and sometimes not. But, in the final analysis, these things are noticed by the beings that count.

To do good deeds without the hope of public praise, that’s supposed to be the spirit of the thing.

Fast-forward to 2024 and think about how many people you know who only have community interest if it benefits them. They wallow in pools of self pity about their lot in life. They whine about not being able to afford to buy a house, while driving (leasing?) God-awful expensive transportation, vacationing frequently, and pouring $6 cups of coffee down their gullets.

They appeal to the vote buyers to help them out by forgiving student debt. They want $20 an hour to ask you if you want fries with the burger you just ordered. They do not feel compelled to develop skills and training to make them more desirable employees, but rather demand higher pay just because they want/need it.

They are envious of those who have worked hard, saved, and so are financially comfortable in old age. Why should these oldsters have the money when the young people need it that much more?

Social Security? Medicare? Never mind that workers and employers paid into these programs, they should be cut off at the knees to allow more bucks to be passed to the needy young.

And then there is the burgeoning class of people who just want outright handouts from square one. Work? That’s for suckers. UBI (universal basic income) in which the productive are asked to subsidize the unproductive just because, is their Holy Grail.

Meanwhile, these types are content to linger on welfare, or other forms of public assistance, collecting cash payments as well as food and rent vouchers, not to mention free health care.

Imagine attending a funeral for one of these malingers and hearing speakers thanking the deceased for introducing them to the family business, that being life on the dole. Any talk of legacy will be taking bows for leading this nation down the path to fiscal no-return.

For all I know, as a taxpayer I’d be helping fund those funerals. There would be a barely audible whisper from the coffin – “Sucker.”