No One is Immune

If you are listening to my podcast for the first time Id advise you to listen to episode 1.  It is the foundation.  In this episode I give you my views on death and a bit about me; why I decided to pursue a career of caring for the dead.  

Thanks for listening!

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Transcript

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No one is immune to death. I have helped people with their loved ones that are aged one day, ten days, ten weeks, ten months, ten years, and one hundred years old. Death is not prejudice. Hello everyone and welcome to episode two of the Death Phobic Podcast, your bi-weekly reminder that you are going to die. Thanks for joining me. Before we get started in today's topic, I feel it's appropriate to formally introduce myself. However, before we get into that, I need to caffeinate. I'm enjoying a can of Form Energy, the fastest growing energy drink on the planet. 200 milligrams of clean caffeine and some great nootropics. But hey, I don't run ads on this show. Now on to today's topic. I grew up in a small town in New Brunswick, Canada, a province that borders Maine, for those of you not familiar. After my parents' divorce, I grew up most of my life with my mom, my brother, and my grandmother. My parents divorced and my grandfather passed away in the same year. Our house was directly next door to a church. During my early years I watched as funeral homes would arrive with a hearse and bring caskets into the church for viewings and services, and my curiosity with the death care industry was born. Fun fact, even though I was curious, I did not attend my grandfather's funeral. I had no desire to attend. Apparently, I was death phobic. Fast forward to my late teens and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, besides drink beer and chase girlfriends, I found myself in Boca Ratone, Florida, attending mortuary school. At this point, I hadn't even worked in a funeral home. It wasn't until our local funeral home in Canada gave me a student summer job that I actually experienced the industry. I fell in love with it, and the rest is history. Thirty-five years later, I am still in the industry. And it's all I know. It's all I've ever done. I stayed in Florida and after working for a few funeral homes for the past several years, in 2023, two things happened. I left the funeral home I was working at to manage Bokaratone Mausoleum. And I got remarried to my beautiful bride Sophie, who coincidentally is also a funeral director. Let's just say our dinner conversations are quite interesting and will remain between my bride and myself. I have two sons with my first wife Sonya. My oldest is Lucian, who is following in my footsteps and currently working to become a licensed funeral director and embalmer. And my youngest Gabe is on a mission to become filthy rich. Good luck with that, bud. I hope it works out for you. This podcast has been four years in the making, and it wasn't until I joined the operator standard that I have the conversations and the push to sit down and hit record. But, yet again, I do not run ads on this show. On to today's discussion. No one is immune to death or its effects. This is one of my beliefs regarding death. I feel you should know how I view death and my feelings towards it and about it. It has changed over the years, and I will share why. There is an epitaph inscribed on a stone gate at the entrance of Woodlawn Cemetery in West Palm Beach, Florida. The cemetery is as old as the city, and this epitaph reads To that which is so universal as death must be a blessing. I'm going to repeat that for you. To that which is so universal as death must be a blessing. I did a little research on the origin of this saying, and they attribute it to a German writer, his name was Frederick Schiller. But no one knows why it ended up inscribed on the stone entrance of Woodlawn Cemetery. I told this to a woman one time, and she quite frankly scolded me. Her opinion was that it wasn't a blessing at all. It sucked quite frankly, she said. Which of course it does. Losing someone you love isn't fun for sure. But I can't help but think that her comments came from a selfish side though. I asked myself, who does it suck for? The living or the dead? When Schiller penned this, he had a couple of different thoughts that he wanted the reader to think about. And the first one is equality. Death comes to all living things, making it a natural equalizer among humans. It is often viewed as rest, as a release from the earthly pain, struggle, and endless fatigue. And also perspective. Knowing life is short can help people value their time and live more freely and fully. Continuing my conversation with this lady, I then stated, if you accept the beauty of birth, you must accept the beauty of death. I want to repeat that for you. If you accept the beauty of birth, you must accept the beauty of death. Crickets. She didn't have a response. Because you simply can't have one without the other. We celebrate birth. Everyone in the family is elated. Susie is pregnant. Let's have a gender reveal party. It's a boy. Let's celebrate. Bob and Sally are going to be grandparents. Baby showers follow. Susie starts to nest. Mother-in-law's become very overbearing. Not that mine ever was. You get the idea. So how do we look at death the same way? We, as the death care industry, are seeing a large shift back to people celebrating the life of loved ones. And I say back to because it isn't the first time in history, the history of funerals, that people chose to celebrate or celebration over mourning. My view is you died one day, but lived a lifetime. Let's celebrate it. And let's celebrate that. This can look different according to the person. I will go into more depth on the many ways I've seen people choose to celebrate life in a future episode. Often in my career I've heard people refer to death as the great equalizer. While it does make us all equal, in the very fact that life is finite, you can't take it with you, I've heard. Have you ever seen a you haul behind a hearse? I don't agree with this. I don't agree that death is the great equalizer. And I'm not talking about your worldly possessions. You might not be able to take it with you, but what you leave behind surely counts. I'm talking about your legacy. Some certainly leave a legacy of wealth, some leave a legacy of being a good parent. A good friend, a philanthropist. I want to be remembered as much as the next guy. I want the world to be a better place because I walk through it. That's all I have for you today. I hope you enjoyed hearing a little bit about me and my views on death. Thanks for joining me, surely appreciate it. If you have a moment, I'd also appreciate a like or a share. Leave a rating or a review. And I'd love to know what you think about this episode. All of my links are in the show notes. And be sure and follow the show so that you don't miss the next episode, where we will be discussing the disposition of your remains. The first and most important decision you will make, in my opinion, because it dictates most, if not all, decisions you will make regarding your final funeral arrangements. You are going to die. But you are alive right now. Make it count. Until next time, I'm Paul Moss, reminding you that if you choose to drink, please don't drive. It takes 13,000 souls per year. Be well, be good, and bye for now.