A season of death is upon us

These past two days have been all about funerals on TV. Yesterday was Aretha Franklin's funeral, a nine-hour marathon that felt, at times, more like the star-studded Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethons of the 1970's and 80's. Today was John McCain's, a relatively brief affair that featured moving eulogies from politicians and family members and a decidedly anti-Trump tone.

These aren't the only deaths right now, of course. Playwright Neil Simon died this week. Ward Hall, the King of Sideshow, passed away yesterday morning. Yesterday was also the funeral for a friend's mother. Numerous friends have also posted about deaths of pets in the past few days.

People are dying all the time, but sometimes deaths seem to come in clusters. A few years ago some friends and I started a discussion thread plotting out the imaginary movie THEY COME IN THREES based on the belief that celebrity deaths happen in groups of three - which is true enough, if you're willing to be pretty arbitrary about your grouping.   (My version had the hero finding out the awful secret truth about why this happens - and going on the run from the villains who will try to stop him from revealing the secret to the world.) At work we often deal with "death days," where almost every call involves someone needing to travel to a funeral or because a friend or family member has just died or is on their deathbed.  After half a dozen calls like this, you just want to yell "Doesn't ANYBODY want to travel for fun anymore?"

Some have suggested that the moving, touching performances at Aretha Franklin's funeral and the calls for a return to a more dignified and honorable era of politics may indicate that a major shift in our society and government is coming soon . But I just don't believe it. I don't think this weekend will bring about any more significant change than the change we have seen in the aftermath of any of the recent mass shootings. For a few days we'll hear some talk of unity, of bipartisanship, of taking positive action to bring about change, and then...

... well, we shall see.