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Collected Item: “Silent Funeral”

Give your story a title.

Silent Funeral

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

Text Story

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

My story begins in May when this pandemic began. I was still in school at ASU at the time and I was living in Tempe. When school and other events started getting cancelled, that's when I knew that COVID-19 was serious and that things were going to change all over the world. However, I didn't think it would have a long-standing impact on my life. Unfortunately, I realized this would not be the case after my closest uncle passed away in June. He had medical problems and was hospitalized for some weeks, but his illness was not caused by COVID-19.

After learning that he passed away I was sad, but not in total shock. What did shock me however, is that I learned that no one would be able to attend his funeral in Nebraska. This of course is due to the pandemic and people not being allowed to be around each other. Most of my family is much older, to be fair, and it could have put them at risk. I've never been very religious, but I think your burial is a very important part of your life. I expect most people hope that it would be some type of celebration of your life. I'm not sure what my uncle wanted, but no one was allowed to attend his burial. This has impacted me where I feel like I didn't get a chance to fully say goodbye. I know that if it was me, I would have wanted my family and friends to be there.

The image I put for this, is a picture of me and two of my closest friends standing outside of the church where we went to take the time to honor his memory.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

#CoronaVirus #Nebraska #Arizona #ASU #COVID19 #REL101

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Henry Smith

Give this story a date.

2020-06-15
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