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Bagpiper at a funeral..
As a
bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral director to play at a
grave side service for a homeless man. He had no family or
friends, so the service was to be at a pauper's cemetery in
the Kentucky back-country. As I was not familiar with the
backwoods, I got lost; and being a typical man I didn't stop for
directions. I finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy
had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight.
There were only
the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and
apologized to the men for being late. I went to the side of the
grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. I didn't
know what else to do, so I started to play.
The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. I
played out my heart and soul for
this man with no family and friends. I played like I've never played
before for this homeless man. And as I played 'Amazing Grace,' the workers
began to weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together.
When I finished I packed up my bagpipes and started for my car.
Though my head hung low my heart was full. As I was opening the door to
my car, I heard one of the workers say, "Sweet Mother of
Jesus, I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in
septic tanks for twenty years."
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