Queen Elizabeth II

Having ruled for 70 years, Queen Elizabeth II, died on Thursday, September 8, 2022, at the age of 96 at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.  A State funeral service was held in her honour on Monday at Westminster Abbey on September 19, 2022, followed by a committal service at the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Winsor, where she was finally interred.

With all her riches, Her Majesty, the queen received a modest and simplest funeral one could think of in this wide world.  She reportedly left behind over $500 million in personal assets from her 70 years on the throne.  Her son, King Charles III, who was newly anointed also has an estimated net worth of $600 million, inheriting the nearly $23 billion in assets belonging to the Crown Estate among others.

COMMITTAL SERVICE FOR QUEEN ELIZABETH

After all the pomp and pageantry, the Presiding Archbishop at the committal service remarked, “Now let us remove all symbol of power from the coffin, so that our sister, Elizabeth can be committed to the grave as a simple Christian”. So, the staff of office, sceptre, the crown and all valuables were removed.  The queen was buried with nothing.

“Beloved, this life is transient, be humble in power and life generally, for you came with nothing and you will go back with nothing.  Life is vanity”.  These are exhortations we often hear from pastors and the clergy who have been officiating burial services worldwide.

The queen’s modest and simple funeral has brought to the fore, the need for various families to cut down cost and expenditure on their departed ones and use the money and resources they have wisely and judiciously.  There is no need wasting a lot of money on the dead no matter how rich and affluent they were when they were alive.

FUNERALS IN GHANA

Over here in Ghana, funerals are more than occasion to mourn the dead.  They offer opportunities for families and loved ones to pay their last respect to the dead.  Aside the conventional reasons for funerals, organising funerals in Ghana, serves as a platform to showcase riches and affluence by the bereaved families.  The situation is so pronounced that families who do not have the means to organise lavished funerals go to the extent of borrowing money and other facilities to arrange such funerals.  In effect, funeral organisation, has become a competition in our dear country where families compare and contrast.

A CASE OF A MAN WHO DIED THROUGH ACCIDENT

For instance, there was a case of a man who died through a fatal lorry accident. The impact of that accident was so devastating to the extent that the body was completely mutilated.  The hands and legs of the deceased were severed, with his intestines gushing out from the stomach.  The police who collected the body and took it to the mortuary and the mortuary attendants advised that the nature and condition of the mutilated body, demanded that it should be buried on time to forestall further decomposition.  The families of the deceased who were later contacted and advised to get rid of the body quickly, were not in favour because they claimed they wanted to give the bereaved a befitting funeral and burial.

According to them, the children of the deceased who were living abroad, had requested that the severed hands and legs as well as the intestines should be stitched and kept in the morgue for a month whilst they prepared to come down to arrange a befitting burial for their father.  They gave an initial money to be given to the mortuary attendants for that purpose, promising that they would pay for any further costs involved in the storage of the corpse.  The elders went ahead to carry out their wishes and the body was prepared and stored in the fridge awaiting their arrival.  Indeed, the children returned to Ghana as promised and paid the rest of the money involved.  When finally, they went and removed the body from the mortuary and laid it in state for wake to enable the family, friends and sympathisers to file past, it was a disaster.  The bad scent and odour that emanated from the decomposed body were so nauseating and disgusting, turning mourners away from the funeral.  The coffin containing the body had to be covered and buried immediately in the night.  The question was, what have you achieved from all that delays?

BORROWING TO ORGANISE LAVISHED FUNERALS

This is one of the scenarios, I have painted.  Indeed, there are a number of unreasonable and unsubstantiated factors that prevent bereaved families from disposing their dead and loved ones in a more modest and simplest form.  Some who cannot afford, prefer borrowing monies to raise lavished “serve yourselves parties” after the burial of their dead ones while others go in for the most expensive caskets and vaults for burials.  The gatherings are served with food and drinks in a grand style at the expense of the bereaved families.

As John F. Harris, an America Journalist and a co-founder of Politico, an Arlington Virginia-based political news organisation, once wrote, “One day, sooner or later, our bodies will be buried or eaten by worms.  Giving that inevitable fate, how can it be argued that the individual during her life or her family after her death, have interests in what happens to the corpse prior to its disposal?  If a liver from a corpse will save someone else life, if retaining the heart will enable cardiac surgeons to refine their surgical skills, why should any impediment stands in the way?  How can the dead command respect?”

CHRISTIANS AND ISLAMIC VIEWS ABOUT THE DEAD

The various Christian denominations, especially, the Catholic Church hold the view that the dying should be given attention and care to help them live their last moments in dignity and peace.  They will be helped by prayer of their relatives who must see to it that the sick receive at the proper time, the sacraments that prepare them to meet the living God.  The bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and charity in the faith and hope of the resurrection.  The burial of the dead is a corporal work of mercy, it honours the children of God who are temples of the Holy Spirit.

In Islam, human dignity is a right given to God to all humans who are referred in the Quran as God’s vicegerents on earth.  Islam grants certain rights to humans before they are even born and others after death.  Whether dead or alive, the human body created by God in the perfect shape, must be given dignity and respect.  This importance of human body is illustrated for instance in the Quran 5:3

CUTTING DOWN COSTS ON FUNERALS

Yes, it is clear and important that we should show love, respect and dignity to our departed loved ones from this earth as echoed by the Holy Bible and the Holy Quran.  However, in displaying these qualities, we need to be mindful of the costs involved by cutting down unnecessary expenses when it comes to the organisation of funerals of the beloved ones who have departed from this earth.  Yes, we need to say goodbye to our loved ones who are dead and gone, but we should allow modesty and simplicity to take a centre stage in everything we do.

Let us be guided by the shining example of the funeral arrangements of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, who in spite of all her wealth and riches, her funeral was very simple and cost effective.

LESSONS FROM THE QUEEN’S DEATH

To conclude this piece, let me re-echo the Archbishop’s last words during the memorial service before the Queen was taken to her grave. Hear him; “Now let us remove all the symbols of power from the coffin, so that our sister Elizabeth can be committed to the grave as a simple Christian”.  Immediately, the staff of office was removed, then the sceptre, followed by the crown and all valuables.  The Queen was buried with nothing.

Life is, indeed, vanity, it it transient, and that teaches us humility- humility in power, humility in relating with others, humility in our acquisition of wealth and humility in all our endeavours, because in the end, we will go back with nothing.

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By Charles Neequaye