Saturday, March 26, 2005
Doin' Easter
Yesterday was a typical Friday. Customers dumping a pile of work on us and requesting Monday delivery, managers scrambling to set priorities and soliciting weekend overtime work from us grunts. You could hardly tell that it was a holiday weekend. One of the customer service reps summed it up best as she said to someone, "Oh, I don't do Easter." I found that rather depressing, since I do. I grew up in an area where most folks not only did Easter, but took off Good Friday as well. (Gotta love that Roman Catholic influence.) But then I had to wonder what exactly I wanted from everybody. I mean, obviously I would like my coworkers to believe and celebrate that Jesus rose from the dead. But even being a Christian doesn't mean you celebrate Easter. It's a human custom established by human beings and as such isn't binding on anyone. Was I just being a cultural bigot? It was more than just that, wasn't it?
That made me think about how I "do Easter" myself. To my surprise, what came to mind wasn't church services or Easter breakfasts or baskets full of candy. I've enjoyed all of those trappings, but what stuck in my mind was laughing in the car after my grandfather's funeral. The funeral service was held at church, then everybody piled in their cars and we processed to the cemetary for the burial. Noodles and I rode with my brother and his wife. I forget how it started--it must have been Buffalo's fault. He always starts it, y'know. Anyway, whatever the cause, we started cracking jokes. Joke begat joke and we ended up roaring with laughter the whole way. It's not that we were glad to see Grandpa gone, it's just that we were all confident that he was in heaven, that one day we'd see him again. Life could go on because we had just affirmed that life does go on. When I do Easter tomorrow, I'll enjoy the food and music, certainly. But the essence of the celebration--the thing I wished more people could "do"--is laughing that Jesus took care of death and the devil and blazed a trail to eternity which He invites us to follow. Hope to see you there.
That made me think about how I "do Easter" myself. To my surprise, what came to mind wasn't church services or Easter breakfasts or baskets full of candy. I've enjoyed all of those trappings, but what stuck in my mind was laughing in the car after my grandfather's funeral. The funeral service was held at church, then everybody piled in their cars and we processed to the cemetary for the burial. Noodles and I rode with my brother and his wife. I forget how it started--it must have been Buffalo's fault. He always starts it, y'know. Anyway, whatever the cause, we started cracking jokes. Joke begat joke and we ended up roaring with laughter the whole way. It's not that we were glad to see Grandpa gone, it's just that we were all confident that he was in heaven, that one day we'd see him again. Life could go on because we had just affirmed that life does go on. When I do Easter tomorrow, I'll enjoy the food and music, certainly. But the essence of the celebration--the thing I wished more people could "do"--is laughing that Jesus took care of death and the devil and blazed a trail to eternity which He invites us to follow. Hope to see you there.
