This weekend at Liverpool John Lennon Airport, two German women, Gitta Jarant and Anke Anusic were arrested at the check-in desk with the body of Curt Willi Jarant, a 91 year old man, whom it turned out was dead. The women were arrested on suspicion of failing to give notification of a death.
Now there are certain rules set down for the repatriation of a dead body, which involve a hermetically sealed zinc lined coffin, which is very expensive and a doctor must also certify that the body is free from infection. Anyway so the family were here seeing relatives in Oldham over Easter, when Mr Jarant passed away.
Clearly it means a great deal to these two women to get him back to Germany, so that he can be buried in his fatherland. But being a Bahá’í I think differently, you see we are encouraged to think of ourselves as citizens of the world, and not become attached to one particular area. So no matter where we are, we are always home, and amongest our own people, because as Bahá’u'lláh said:-
“The earth is but one country and mankind its citizens”
Its actually a requirement in the Bahá’í Faith for the friends to be buried no more than one hours travel away from where they die. Because we try not to become attached to a particular geographic location, this should be easy, but I think it could be tough on our loved ones, who may want to visit our graves.
So for example if I was away on holiday, lets say in Turkey, and I got hit by a bus and died, then I would be buried in Turkey. But to me its not like being buried in a foreign land, its just like being buried in a different part of my own country. My relatives whom are not Bahá’ís may not be happy about this and may struggle to understand it, but it is what I believe and I am quite happy to be buried where I die. Thats quite morbid think of ones own death, isn’t it.
There is a very good example of someone whom passed away and was buried far from his home in the Faith, and thats the case of Shoghi Effendi, the Faiths guardian following the passing of his grandfather ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. When he was visiting London, he fell ill and passed away, and in accordance with the laws of the Faith he was buried in New Southgate Cemetery in North London, me and Lindsay made a pilgrimage there last June which you can read about here.
What this law really rams it home for me, that its not where you live which is important, but what you do everyday and how you live your life that matters most.
