I don't go to many funerals.  But I went to one last week, and like most things, they generate ideas in my head and cause me to form opinions.  So here it is:  Funerals are bad events.  There isn't much more to say about that.  A funeral is an event to mourn the death of a human being.  There can't possibly be much happiness in something like that.  However, I have to applaud the fact that funerals are often a celebration of a person's life, accomplishments, personality, and good vibes they left with the world.  Rarely, if ever, do the people at the funeral talk about how much of a jerk the person was.  And that's good.  That's how it should be. 

But now for the opinion:  Viewing a dead body is probably the worst conceivable way to see a person for the last time.  What freak came up with that idea?  I guess some people like to have closure, so they feel the need to view the person's body one last time.  I hate to break it to you, but here it goes anyway:  A body at a funeral is likely a hollow cavity that's been frozen for the past several days, drained of its blood (and possibly vital organs), and painted to look like a living person.  If you get close enough to the body, and if you're "lucky" enough to touch it, it'll be the last thing you remember about the person.  Hey, isn't that great.  A memory of a hollowed-out corpse covered with makeup.  Lovely. 

Instead, I think we should remember a person with pictures.  I'd say there aren't many people on this globe who haven't been photographed at least somewhat recently, so it shouldn't be hard to get a few pictures together and set up a display or an electronic presentation.  You get to see the person in normal human settings, doing normal human things, exhibiting normal human emotions.  That's the way a person should be remembered.  Happy times, happy things.  Even if the person was being a jerk in the picture, it's still an accurate portrayal of how the person was, instead of lying down in a wooden box with hands folded nicely on the stomach. #psychology