The Importance of Friends and Family During the Departure of a Loved One

Photo Credit: Celestine Chua Flickr cc

As Benjamin Franklin once said, only two things in life are an absolute certainty: death and taxes.

Unlike taxes, which are expected in an annual or quarterly period, the death of a loved one can strike at any time. Even the healthiest of people can have a stroke, heart attack, cancer or some catastrophic failure that leaves them here one day but gone the next.

Times like these are hard on everyone. Family members, relatives, co-workers, friends, morticians, doctors and even funeral homes will find the death of an individual a taxing event to deal with. The truth is that no matter how prepared a person might be for a sudden death, there's no amount of preparation that can make it possible to deal with when it actually does happen.

That's why it's important to keep in mind that while death can be a trying period for everyone involved in the deceased person's affairs, it can also be one that can bring people together.

For example, a funeral is one of the few events that can bring entire networks of individuals related to one person together. They'll talk, sometimes for the first time in years due to trivial grudges, and work things out while remembering the dearly departed.

The upside about these events is that they help the immediate family of the deceased develop a support network. This means that they can help with everything from mowing the lawn to donating funds to cover what expenses that any life insurance policies put in place didn't. They can also provide the emotional support that people need to overcome the loss of a loved one.

That's why it's important that family, relatives and friends be involved as early as possible. They can be instrumental in reducing the amount of overhead, confusion and negative emotions that may be swirling about in the heads of those who are still bound to this Earth.

Funeral Fund