I'm not big on religion - I'm not really sure how you classify my beliefs. I think I might be some sort of existentialist, but the label isn't really important to me. I believe what I believe.

Anyway, the point is, I believe funerals should be a celebration, but realise that in practice it's very hard for this to happen. For a start, it's hard to be treating it as a celebration when all those around you are weeping for their dearly beloved. To many people it makes you look uncaring, which I'm not.

The way I look at it is thus. The person is dead, shuffled off the mortal coil. I don't believe in an afterlife or reincarnation. Once you're dead, in my reality, you're dead. So, because of my beliefs, people have nowhere to go once they're dead, nothing to look forward to. One I can do, though, is look back. I remember all the happy times I had with that person, and all the happy times they had with their loved ones. I remember their accomplishments, and all the little ways they made the world a better place. The future, I reason, is bleak and does not contain that person. So, no point dwelling on the future and making myself sad, I look to the past and smile. That's my way of coping.

I am aware that other people have other beliefs and I respect that.