I wasn’t planning to watch the funeral for President H. W. Bush today. But I walked into my nail salon to get a mani-pedi at 11:00am and noticed there were no other customers in the place. I said to Kathy, the owner (her American name), and the other techs, that I guessed everyone was at home watching the funeral. They asked what funeral? All the employees there are originally from Vietnam. So, I told them and they turned the two TV’s on the walls to CNN, and we watched – while I got my nails done. Just me and the nail salon staff.
It was quite an experience! I was the only one speaking only English and often the nail techs said some things in Vietnamese that I obviously did not understand, but I would hear names: Bush, Carter, Trump, Clinton, Obama. I also noticed that during the times that there were some lighter moments and jokes during the service, the techs did not understand them. They did not laugh along like I did.
But… and I swear this is the truth: at one point, while we chatted as we watched, we all agreed that Trump being there was awkward. They laughed at how the kind words said about the senior President Bush, about his honesty and his graciousness, about his lifetime friendships, was so opposite to who Trump is now and how he leads this country. We all chuckled about his uncomfortable position there in the front row, not being the one being honored and loved.
I got to thinking. I wondered what will President Trump’s funeral be like when it will be his time. Who would speak? And what would/could be said?!?! Sad to think… but I wondered how very different it will be.
I watched the whole funeral in the nail salon. I was touched by much of it. The family and friends who gave eulogies were well spoken and gave insight in to President Bush as the man, and a wonderful one he was! The music was amazing. The sermon by his home church pastor was ‘spot on’ and I loved his delivery of stories, telling personal stories of Bush’s faith. The service was religious. There were scripture readings. The Apostles Creed was spoken by all, and the Lord’s Prayer was magnificently sung.
It was a couple of hours of displaying honor and love. It was beautiful.
It was good for the citizens of the USA to experience Today. I really hope that young people were able to watch. I also hope that immigrants were able to see and hear the good that can happen by those who serve. I tried to explain the difference to the nail salon employees of then and now.
Today’s service made me think about how we all hope to live our lives so we have a beautiful funeral. I have been to some, and today I watched one. We all want to be remembered well, and to have our family and friends speak about our positive attributes. We want to make a difference in our lives. We want to use our days to help someone and hopefully many people. And, we want to handle our death with dignity – with hope. We want to be a smile on a face when our name is mentioned.
Today we experienced that. It was a beautiful handling of a death.
Marla’s Musings 