Letter of the Day | Do not hijack people’s grief at funerals

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I was about to pen this letter about Corporal Rohan James’ incendiary remarks at the Thanksgiving Service for the late Constable Damien Blair on July 15 when there was another incident of poor behaviour at the Portmore Seventh-day Adventist Church on July 23.

I really don’t want to discuss the happenings in Portmore on July 23. In short, our students need a good dose of instruction in civics. In addition, our people need to know what is acceptable behaviour in church, in a churchyard and at a funeral.

But let’s get back to Corporal James. Let me make it abundantly clear that my comments have nothing to do with the appropriateness of his remarks while negotiations are taking place. I am not entering into that discussion. I understand that the corporal has been interdicted. That is a police force matter that is not the gravamen of this letter.

If you are asked to give condolences, you give condolences. You condole with the family. You express sympathy. You grieve with the family, especially bearing in mind the circumstances of Constable Blair’s demise. You do not hijack people’s grief to launch out into a tirade which reveals your own agenda. Surely the chairman of the Police Federation can empathise with a grieving family.

It is not his house. It is His house. It is the house of the Lord. People need to know how to behave in the Lord’s house.

For too long funerals have become free-for-alls. People don’t seem to know what condolences and tributes are. I have learnt that people with one-track minds have derailed trains of thought and that is apparently what happened at the thanksgiving service on July 15.

The purpose of homily is not to cry for vengeance. The preacher is to bring a message of hope and comfort to the bereaved relatives. (S)he is supposed to give them the assurance that, if they are faithful, they will see their loved one again, the hope of the resurrection. The sermon is not for the dead person. That person is already dead. It is rather for the living. It is an exhortation to those in attendance to lead faithful lives.

Let families lay their loved ones to rest with dignity. I trust that we will see fewer aberrations in the future.

NORMAN THOMPSON