It is a perfectly respectable career but not one I would expect a young boy to aspire to. I don't know that we need to bring necrophilia into it though. That seems to be a stretch.
@Jim Veradyne I brought it up simply as a possible way of explaining the 12 year old boy talked about here wanting to become a Mortician. Perhaps he was just "ahead of his age". Who knows?
My god, how does your mind work?...a 12 year old showing an interest in becoming a funeral director, is suddenly potentially interested in necrophilia in your mind?....good grief, one might begin to wonder who in fact is the one suffering from mental aberration... jeez man, get a grip..seriously!!
Most people do not dwell on the lives and motivations of a funeral director. We see them briefly, for a grief-filled moment, and move on. They work behind the scenes and are content to do so. They remain an unknown quantity. It is no wonder our imaginations run wild. We have to cut Frank some slack.
Of all the things that fascinate us, death is probably among the top 10. We know little about it, it comes only once for most of us, and we are all emotionally attached to it. Perhaps, just perhaps a young person who saw the amount of respect that a good mortician had shown to a loved one of his motivated him to aspire to be like him. Perhaps an empathic trigger was set off and he needed to be that last link between loved ones and the person passing. From the new cultures involving the facination of zombies, vampires, and the occult to honest compassion I really do not find it too strange that a young person might be more than just interested in death and the person who deals with it on a daily basis. Just sayin............
Holly, you must be living within an impermeable wrapper, through which only your perception of reality flows. Do you honestly believe a 12 year old cannot suffer the aberration known as necrophilia? If so, then a 12 year old could not possibly commit murder, arson, suicide, etc., right?
Okay, everyone has made their point on the necrophilia thing and, since it's approaching the level of personal attacks, let's consider the necrophilia questions to have been answered. Yes, you are right, in that a 12 year-old can be capable of such things but, in this case, the 12 year-old that I brought up was currently the owner of a funeral home, and there was nothing to indicate such an aberration. There was no harm in suggesting it but let's not continue that avenue of discussion.
I would like to add a comment relating to the changes seen in the past several decades regarding youth subculture. My nephew Mike has taught at Northern Arizona University as well as acted as College Entrance Advisor for 30 years. He tells us during those years he has witnessed the growing emergence among young adults of the "goth" subculture. These folks are commonly misguided in life, to be sure, but many come from very well-to-do families, as well as many living day to day on next to nothing. They seem to have a nearly morbid preoccupation with death, the occult, Satanic Worship, and the like. They tend to dress entirely in black, to the extreme, using black lipstick and heavy outlining of the features, "ghoulish", as Mike describes it. Heavy body and face piercing and ornamentation is part of their "thing". Mike came from a background nearly identical to mine, basically the "work ethic" culture. He is a most accommodating person, perhaps too much so, and has always treated the "unusual" folks he deals with giving the same respect as anyone else. Once, a big, burly youth entered his Office, for Guidance Counseling, heavily garnished as Mike put it, suddenly pulled a knife and held it out towards Mike's face and throat. Mike, fortunately, was able to talk him down. He did not pursue the situation as another might have, as the youth, calming down, apologized and said he had run out of his "medicine". We are living through uniquely changing times, IMO. If interested, this article details the goth subculture: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goth_subculture#Self-harm_study
That's a good topic, but since it can go off into a lot of directions having nothing to do with funeral directors, I thought I would create a new thread for it, entitled Kids, These Days.
@Ken Anderson The topic may be good, but the goth subculture, IMO, is not good. Just sayin'. I'm always just bursting with stuff which irks me, but am usually too offensive when I vent so only will that be seen rarely.
In High School I had a friend, who 's family owned a funeral home, and they lived on the second floor. Growing up in the "business", he and his brothers accepted this part of their life as normal. We used to jokingly ask him if he had trouble going downstairs for a glass of milk, in the middle of the night. His response was that "dead people can't hurt you, it's only the living ones, who can". He has grownup to manage the very successful business, and his adult children are working with him.
Well it takes all kinds doesn't it? it is a handsomely paid profession, however, most people are fairly repulsed by dead bodies. I can't imagine wanting to embalm bodies and take care of the dead. It must be truly sad when you have to prepare a young child for burial. I think that many funeral homes and morticians are family owned and the business is past down in the family. I think I would want to do almost anything before being a funeral director though. It would be tough.
@Frank Sanoica I think your view is perfectly reasonable - psychiatrists talk of all having "over-valued ideas", things we become fixated on. These must naturally influence our interests and through those our careers.
@Harry Kemp If you checked through the first page, as you saw, I took considerable "heat" for what I thought might be a perfectly reasonable explanation to an unusual situation. I can take it. But as Ken said, no point in extending that conversation. Thank you for your supportive view! Frank