GASSING UP A HEARSE IS LIKE BUILDING A HOUSE

Coming to the intersection of two highways, the corner of which held a filling station, I noticed a well-dressed man standing outside of a white vehicle. I realized that the well-dressed man was the driver and the white vehicle was a hearse. He was standing beside, and casually leaning against, the vehicle as he waited for the gas pump to finish filling the tank. In the back of the hearse was a casket covered with flowers, while behind the hearse was a black limousine occupied by a driver and six grown men – the pallbearers. And behind the black pallbearer-limo, lined up and with their headlights glaring, 37 cars had pulled over, as far as they could, to the side of the road without parking in the ditch, while they waited for the hearse-driver to top off the gas tank.

Everything in life requires planning. When ‘planning’ is neglected, even for the littlest detail, a lot of allegorical waiting-by-the-roadside may be the result.

‘Planning’ is something we all have to do whether it deals with the details of death or design. For example, the roof of a house must be held up by a beam which has to rest on a post or wall which must rest on a concrete slab, under which there must be a footing which prevents the weight of the roof from pushing the substructure down through the foundation, like you can push your finger through a piece of brittle toast. So, gassing up a hearse and building a house are almost the same thing because planning for either one is critical, except that homebuilding requires fewer cars lined up with their headlights on.

AB