Funerals, Real and Dreamt
I had a dream last night I can only vaguely recall. I hope more details come back to me. I think I was at a memorial service for Suzan, the woman who hired me for my first job out of college. She died of cancer a few months ago. I'm pretty sure mandylyn was there with me. We were looking at a scrapbook of Suzan's life. There were lots of newspaper clippings in the book. I was very sad, probably crying.
It seems logical that the dream was inspired by watching television coverage of the funeral for the Pima County Deputy who was recently killed in the line of duty. I'm pretty jaded and it really got to me. I feel just awful for everyone involved, especially the old man driving the car that killed the officer and the two other men.
The whole situation was nothing but tragic. I mean, you really couldn't make up anything more sad. There was the young, recently married Irish-Catholic cop who, by all accounts, was a model officer. Then there was the Muslim cab driver who was killed trying to help the cop. And the mentally ill young man who caused the accident but can't in any way be held responsible. And the old man and his grandson in the truck who killed the three of them when they fell into traffic who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's just staggering to me the chain of events that had to line up for this horrible thing to happen. So many lives were directly and indirectly affected by this.
So what's my beef? My beef is the media coverage, or parts of it anyway. It crossed the line into exploitation in my opinion. I've always wanted to cock-punch local news anchor Guy Atchley but now more than ever. His personal statement to the officer's eldery grandmother watching the ceremony via satellite in Illinois was mawkish and sickening and he should be ashamed of turning that family's personal tragedy into a starring moment. He's the worst kind of news personality and I've always hated him. I can't even bring myself to call him a "reporter."
At lot of the spectators interviewed on the news also crossed the line from showing community support into ghoulish emotional vampirism. People watch too damn much TV and they forget that not everything is entertainment. It was a funeral procession, not an Easter parade, and if you dragged your kids out to stand in the sun for two hours to watch it, you're just sick.
Anyway, the parts of the ceremony I caught on the news yesterday were quite nice. Sheriff Dupnik gave a very moving speech and it made me glad I've always voted for him. He's always seemed pretty honorable to me and I could tell he really cares about his officers. Many of the speeches mentioned the fact that the Catholic cop and Muslim cabbie were working together to help protect others. There were a lot of nice mentions of unity and the not the jingoistic kind of unity. That was a refreshing change and not something we hear nearly enough of lately.
It seems logical that the dream was inspired by watching television coverage of the funeral for the Pima County Deputy who was recently killed in the line of duty. I'm pretty jaded and it really got to me. I feel just awful for everyone involved, especially the old man driving the car that killed the officer and the two other men.
The whole situation was nothing but tragic. I mean, you really couldn't make up anything more sad. There was the young, recently married Irish-Catholic cop who, by all accounts, was a model officer. Then there was the Muslim cab driver who was killed trying to help the cop. And the mentally ill young man who caused the accident but can't in any way be held responsible. And the old man and his grandson in the truck who killed the three of them when they fell into traffic who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's just staggering to me the chain of events that had to line up for this horrible thing to happen. So many lives were directly and indirectly affected by this.
So what's my beef? My beef is the media coverage, or parts of it anyway. It crossed the line into exploitation in my opinion. I've always wanted to cock-punch local news anchor Guy Atchley but now more than ever. His personal statement to the officer's eldery grandmother watching the ceremony via satellite in Illinois was mawkish and sickening and he should be ashamed of turning that family's personal tragedy into a starring moment. He's the worst kind of news personality and I've always hated him. I can't even bring myself to call him a "reporter."
At lot of the spectators interviewed on the news also crossed the line from showing community support into ghoulish emotional vampirism. People watch too damn much TV and they forget that not everything is entertainment. It was a funeral procession, not an Easter parade, and if you dragged your kids out to stand in the sun for two hours to watch it, you're just sick.
Anyway, the parts of the ceremony I caught on the news yesterday were quite nice. Sheriff Dupnik gave a very moving speech and it made me glad I've always voted for him. He's always seemed pretty honorable to me and I could tell he really cares about his officers. Many of the speeches mentioned the fact that the Catholic cop and Muslim cabbie were working together to help protect others. There were a lot of nice mentions of unity and the not the jingoistic kind of unity. That was a refreshing change and not something we hear nearly enough of lately.