Let the Dying Business Save Lives
Funeral during COVID is the worst. I had to watch my uncle get lowered into a 6-foot hole via a screen, while my family members stood 6-feet apart at the cemetery. Casket carriers were forced to wear gloves and a mask, and the graveside service had to be only 30 minutes.
Not only were the rules very strict, they were enforced. Sounds bad, right? Not exactly how you want to mourn a loved one?
I have news for you, this is exactly how we should have been doing everything from the get-go…and not just at a COVID funeral; but in our day-to-day pandemic lives.
Surprisingly, it seems that the only people effectively communicating rules were the funeral industry folks.
Leave it to the dying business to save lives.
That’s right…the issue with this pandemic is not about whether or not you agree with the protocols, it’s about the people feeding you information.
So now what? Four months later and we are being regulated to mask up indoors by leaders who you don’t trust? How can you trust a flip-flop leader who went maskless in the park that one sunny afternoon? [See: Should Have Buried My Uncle In Bellwoods]. Yes, I know he apologized, but didn’t the boy who cried wolf do the same? I wouldn’t want to listen to the boy who cried wolf either, ahem, Toronto leadership.
If you ask me, we need to elect better pandemic leadership, and my vote’s with the funeral directors. They’ve been saving lives since the first COVID funeral, and not just because they want to keep you and your family safe, but because they want to protect everyone, especially their staff. Gravediggers aren’t invincible — they are mortal people with children, and elderly parents, too.
And guess what — wait, I hope this isn’t a surprise for you — we are going to have a second wave. It’s already happening, and I don’t blame you if you don’t want to take direction from faulty leaders, or go rogue to figure this out on your own, which is why I have a plan for Toronto City officials: listen to organizations like the Bereavement Authority of Ontario or Toronto Hebrew Memorial Parks. Let them take the reigns to lead us through the second round, which, rumor has it, will be worse.
Need assurance? There’s been zero COVID cases reported from a pandemic funeral, and it’s because they have instituted COVID-safety regulations, and enforced protocols, and guess what, people actually follow them.
That’s right — we should have been taking orders from the funeral leaders from day one. Sure, bring on the public vs. private debate; but when it comes to saving lives, there’s no debate.
Perhaps we should all go around living our lives like we are at a pandemic funeral — maybe then, fewer people will die, and better, everyone will be forced to follow the rules.