Yesterday while I was here at work, three of my co-workers were watching a funeral that was streaming online. They had the volume up a bit too loud for my taste, and their reactions were similar to the ones you would hear at Sunday service--which would be perfectly fine if we weren't in an office. The funeral was for MaLinda Sapp, who was the wife of renowned gospel singer Marvin Sapp.

Now, I can readily admit that I had no clue who Marvin Sapp was until a few years ago when my mother made me listen to him in her car. So I only recently knew how big he is in the gospel community, and I definitely knew nothing about his wife. I also know that certain people here in my office, are heavily into church and gospel music, so they were all over this so the funeral was kind of a big deal to them. Having said that, I have a big problem with what went on yesterday for many reasons.

1) You're at work in a public office in a public space, which means anything coming out of your computer speakers at a high volume, needs to be in the safe confines of headphones. Unless President Obama is giving out vital instructions or something, there's no need for everyone within a 10 mile radius to hear you.

2)If you are wearing headphones, you have to still keep your reactions quiet. As I mentioned before, this was a funeral for a woman who was deep in the church, so it was the equivalent of an Easter Sunday service, and then everyone was grieving on top of that. So if I had taken a shot of Johnny Walker Blue every time I heard a "Mmmm Hmmm" or a "I know that's right" or a "preach brother", while I was at my desk yesterday, I'd have been drunk--and possibly agitation-free.

3)I mean this as no disrespect to the deceased (which means someone will take it as such) but I can think of three people who have streaming-online-funeral status: Michael Jackson, the President and the Pope. That's it, that's the list. Everyone else has to have a regular non-televised funeral, and then the program/playbill can be PDF'd, then sent to the entire world via email blast. I just don't think those things should be televised.

4)Why the hell would you want to watch a funeral anyway? I was "invited" to three funerals this year, and I only went to one, and it was an emotional rollercoaster. Of the 2 hours I spent at that funeral, the best parts were a)when I saw my high school buddies walking to the car as we left the funeral home, and b)when we started drinking afterwards. Nothing about the funeral had me thinking, "Man, this is must-see-tv, and I'm glad I came. But even when I've gone to funerals that were less sad, I still felt like it was a private, intimate affair for those in attendance--not something I'd look in on at work.

But again, this is just me, I'm sure someone can construct a beautiful rebuttal telling me why I'm wrong, and I'll probably read it and consider it.