When you visit funeral homes in Harrison City, PA, you may not know what to say. It can be an awkward experience because death is a big unknown and you aren’t sure how people are going to react to their grief. However, there are certain things that are nice to say at a funeral home, like ‘I’m sorry for your loss’ or ‘I’ve been thinking of you.’ There are also things you might want to avoid saying to the family members who are going through this process. Here are a few phrases to watch out for and avoid saying.
I Know How You Feel
This is a hard thing to not say when that’s how you are feeling. Perhaps the person in question lost a parent and you have lost a parent as well. You have that in comment. However, their relationship to their parent was different. Their parent was a completely different person. They are going to react to the death differently than you did and so on. In reality, you can relate to what they are going through, but you don’t really know how they are feeling. If they want to talk about your commonality, they can come to you. Don’t tell them that you understand how they feel. You really don’t.
They’re In A Better Place
If the person you are talking to is a faithful sort, they might believe in heaven and they might agree that their loved one is in a better place. But that’s not something you really want to say to someone. Chances are, they believe the best place for their loved one is right there with them. Saying that they are in a better place now, wherever that might be, can be downright offensive to them. The last thing you want to do is hurt them any more than they are already hurting.
You Need To Move On
The funeral is too soon for the person who is grieving to even think about moving on. That’s not really something you want to say to them at all, but especially not as soon as the final service. They are going to move at their own pace and they don’t need to be told what to do. Their grief is going to have to lead them and they are going to have to find their way, whatever that looks like.
This Service Isn’t What They Wanted
If you attend a funeral for someone and you know they wanted to be cremated, ask yourself, is it really going to help anything if you point that out to the family? They had the service they had and pointing out that the person who died would have wanted something different will only make them feel bad and/or make them resent you. Keep that opinion to yourself at that time.
If you want to hear things that perhaps you should say to people at funeral homes in Harrison City, PA, the professionals at Jobe Funeral Home and Crematory, Inc. can help.