Pope Francis passed away and is being laid to rest tonight at 8pm NZT. He has, however, been lying in state in an open casket for people to file past and view.
I can understand people wanting to pay their respects to him. I most certainly would if I were on that side of the world. I admired him and thought he was progressive, realistic and empathetic. I hope he rests in peace.
However, here is the question. If I did go to pay my respects to him, would I feel that it was entirely appropriate to take a photo of him in his casket, or a cheeky little selfie of my partner and me with his dead body in the background? You have to be kidding me.
The process of people paying their respects was livestreamed and all you could see was myriad people holding up their cellphones like demented orangutans taking pictures of his corpse.
It gets worse. People were actually taking selfies with Pope Francis.
I know myself well enough to know my level of horror at what I saw on my TV screen means that, if I were there, I would not have stood idly by.
The irony is that these people were there to pay their respects and showed the biggest lack of respect I have ever seen. It would appear that nothing is sacred. Mortified doesn’t even touch the sides. What makes this even more monstrous is that people seemed to be behaving like this was okay.
My first thought was may God strike them down, followed closely by where on earth are they going to post that photo?
I understand that people are so busy documenting experiences and meals on their phones that they don’t concentrate on the experience or the delectable pork belly they have just eaten or the concert they are watching, but this spoke to the state of where the human condition is at. There would seriously have to be some kind of disconnect for someone to think that this was socially acceptable or palatable.
When Donald Trump was re-elected, I wondered what the world had come to but, when I saw this, I was ashamed to be part of the human race. It made me want to throw my phone in the bin, run away to a kibbutz and grow vegetables and flowers. Mostly, it made me want to issue a universal apology to Francis on behalf of all of us. I felt immeasurably sad.
Just so you can judge whether or not I am over the top with my phone etiquette, I shall list my Rennie Rules of Rudeness when it comes to our all-pervading devices.
1. When in company, turn your phone to silent.
2. When having a live conversation with someone, don’t read your phone at the same time. It gives them a very clear message that whoever is interrupting your conversation on the phone is more important than they are.
3. Manage people’s expectations. Explain that you won’t get back to them ASAP every time they text – you could be on a roof.
4. Do not take your phone to the dinner table. A mate of mine has business lunches. There is a rule: all phones in a pile in the middle of the table. The first person to touch their phone has to pick up the tab for the whole table. Genius.
5. Don’t take photos of dead Popes. It’s abhorrent, creepy, rude and totally unnecessary.
I think you need to value what you are doing, when you’re doing it and who you are doing it with. No social media, no texting other people – be in the now. I would have thought this was common sense. But the thing about common sense is that it really isn’t common at all.
