"The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it."

FRACTURED FAMILY                          " BURIAL"                            BURIAL Our mother's pre-burial arrangements, like our father's and grandmother's, were veiled in contention. Yet, as expected, harmony prevailed, paving the way for her dignified sendoff. Culture, a dominant motif in our lives, follows us from cradle to grave. As I have often lamented, culture can be a shameless donkey – stubborn, unfair, and resistant to change. My maternal kinsmen's demands seemed to echo this sentiment, as they treated our mother's burial as a second traditional marriage, according to their custom. Their exorbitant pre-burial demands were astronomical, threatening to stall the burial rites. We visited our maternal home, a select group bearing the weight of negotiation, to trim the endl...