More About the South: Funeral Processions

Last updated on: July 22, 2016 at 8:57 am by Jennifer Fitz

More About the South: Funeral Processions 2016-07-22T08:57:07-05:00 Jennifer Fitz

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Rev. Cindy Maddox (United Church of Christ) wrote a moving piece about grief and funeral processions.

That post reminded me of something I’ve been meaning to write for a while: Down here in the land of the backwards and ignorant, over and again I have seen people pull over in respect for the funeral procession when they did not have to do so.

You’ll be in a procession that’s going down a four-lane divided highway* and you see on the other side of the road, where there is no way that the oncoming traffic could interfere with the flow of the funeral procession, cars pulling over to wait for you to pass.

It has nothing at all to do with traffic laws or safety. It has nothing to do with social pressure, either. If you kept driving, no one would notice or care, because you’re on the other side of a divided highway. There’s not one bit of requirement or expectation. It’s a purely voluntary display of respect for total strangers.

–> And though people will often keep driving if they aren’t required to stop, I’ve never, not once, seen anyone be rude or impatient about a funeral procession. Then again, we’re used to dubious driving, so our road-rage threshold’s real high.

From President Reagan’s funeral, via Wikimedia [Public Domain]

*Not the interstate. That would be dangerous.

Related: Speaking of respect for the dead, Word on Fire has a nice post up in honor of today’s feast. I did a little Magdalene-conflating myself the other day. Sheesh. Catholic writers. We’ll never get everything straight.

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