You are on a dream vacation that you have saved up years for on a faraway island. You get a call that an Uncle died who you was?

No, I won't give up my dream. I've saved for it for years. And since I am not so close to him then I would think it's okay if I would finish my dream vacation first.

I may sound selfish but if I would attend to his wake, I could not make him alive. This did happen to me. And my family understood me because I'm too far away from them.So, I just extended a little financial assistance.

This really depends on the situation. I even have an aunt (1st cousin of my mother) who had never attended when her mother died. She was in England and her mother was here in the Philippines.

I'm sure she's being understood by her siblings and her father.

The best way to honor the dead is to live life. I would be hard pressed to come back for an uncle I was close to in this situation. Knowing my uncles they would haunt me whith the ghostly sounds of, "OOOooooOOooo!

Why did you end your vacaaaation? Gooo baack to the island, back to the island . .. " Don't get me wrong I would definately do my part to honor the dead, a donation to his favorite charity, a gathering in his honor, an extra setting at an empty seat at the table for a nice dinner.

The funeral is not and should not be the end all be all of honoring the dead. As far as my parents I think one may be confused by my stance the other understanding, but what others think would pale in comparison to what seems like the right thing to do for myself and my uncle.

No, I wouldn't give up my dream. Just because someone is a family doesn't mean that you have to give up my life to attend his funeral. What good does it do to him to attend his funeral?

He is already dead and he can't feel anything anymore. Funeral is for the living. If I were the one who died, I wouldn't bother to ask people, especially people who weren't close to me in real life, to attend my funeral.

If I could make people do something, I would prefer to have them donate to charities or take care of the family I left behind. As for what my mom and dad think, I don't think they will think badly of me. They will understand that this is my dream and I've saved for a long time for it.As Christians, they know that once the person is dead, he's no longer with us and the ceremony to honor him is more for the people he left behind.

No way! If we were not close, then there is no need to return. My family is way too large to go to every funeral.It wouldn't be a bad reflection on the family because most likely my parents wouldn't be there either.

I would send a nice card to the immediate family when I got back though.

I would not go back for the funeral. I would spend time with the family when I returned, but I imagine it would be a nightmare trying to get new tickets home on such short notice from an island. I believe the living and the dead would understand.

If I will be on my dream vacation and an uncle died I will not go home to attend the funeral. I think there are many ways to show last respect for a relative. And I don't want to go home to attend just for the benefit of my relatives.

The most important thing for me to do then is to pray for the eternal repose of my uncle's soul and I will try to look for a church near my dream vacation and offer a mass for him and buy a card and send it to my uncle's family. I don't mind if my relatives will think that I am selfish and has no thought of my uncle. I'd rather pray alone than go home just so they will see me so that they will not see mom and dad in the bad light.

That would be hypocrisy on my part and I don't like that. My uncle will know that deep in my heart I thought of him and gave my last respect in my own way.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.