Ricky, Other Deaths, Undying Lands, Funerals

Ricardo "Ricky" Sunico, TPTS’s Ringbearer and all around big brother, has sailed into the West. He passed away 2 days ago.

Farewell, Ricky! We might not have been that close, but we did know each other beyond mere acquaintance. His passing is indeed a shock for many including myself, and undoubtedly depressing (‘sad’ may be an understatement). Ever energetic and ever accommodating, who would’ve thought Ricky would leave us this soon? But though we weep, let us not be too troubled, for he rests now amongst the company of the Blessed – where the burdens of mortality no longer apply.

Again, farewell my friend. Namarië. I sing you the same song I ring for my departed kinsmen. “Into the West.” You know how it goes.

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About a week ago, a great grandaunt passed into the Undying Lands, as well. Nana Tiva of the house of my mother’s mother, of her mother, and her mother before her. She was the last of her generation, the last of our great matriarchs. I did the rites in my own ways, as I missed her wake and funeral. She, too, rests now amongst the holy company of our mothers and fathers before us. Hail to you, mother. We shall meet again. To us it may take a lifetime, but for you rested amongst the timeless halls, it should only take a swift while.

***

Julia Campbell, who by the way I do not know, was apparently brutally robbed, raped, and murdered along the slopes of the Batad terraces. She belonged to the US Peace Corps and was indeed a loved and treasured member, as the locals lament. What brings me to write about her? It’s that fuckin’ idiot Raul Gonzalez. DOJ Secretary, my arse! What a bloody jerk. He arrogantly pronounced his idiocy on television, in that usual slouching position of his, that it was Campbell’s fault (having been “careless” to trek alone) why she ended up that way. Is he mad, insane, mental? Assuming that were true, one should show respect to the dead – especially when it is nobody’s goddamned fault under any bloody circumstances to be robbed, raped, or murdered.

***

I also extend my condolences for the 32 untimely deaths at the recent Virginia Tech University massacre. I shall not focus on its perpetuator, for he too lies with the Dead. Instead, I shall pray for the departed and weep my share. We pray that something as horrendous as this be given no chance to happen again.

***

Speaking of death and all the weeping – I, myself, am terrible at funerals. Though I try not to wail, I cry almost endlessly. You hit that soft spot of mine and my tear ducts just flood their own ways, unyielding. Being partly raised upon many Victorianisms, I know for sure that the repression of emotions hurt.

Many people from the urban enclosures –probably over desensitised by minimal contact with the natural word– are like this, a strange breed. When one of their kinsmen die, they rush themselves to hasten the preparations and disguise the rites "of their darkness". They do not stop to wail nor prostrate before their dearly departed, nor do they bother to ring laments. These people forget that Death and mortality need to be recognised.

And to that I say: Be proud, paganus! For you weep when you need to weep, you mourn passing like it should be mourned. Things are the way they should be with you, faithful to nature. Let others be as they wish, stiff and mechanical. We shall weep when need calls.What brings me to say this? Do not fuggin' ogle us like circus freaks when we weep for our dead, we'll tear off our beards and throw ourselves to the earth when we want to. We're not doing anything unnatural, you are.

April isn’t exactly the traditional time to reflect on this, I know. But amen, anyway.