"Let the Dead Bury the Dead."

So I have a business partner who is afraid to clean out a rental house with me because the previous owner, a woman in her 40's, committed suicide in the bedroom.

Okay, I understand people get the heeby-jeebies.

But when going to the house today in order to see just what needed to be done - and evidently on my own, at that - I encountered neighbors who dissected and studied the dead woman's life in an attempt to understand the incident.

Fairly normal, I suppose.

The thing is, now that she is dead, the woman is receiving a large amount of attention. Of course, the stories of her struggles and here-and-there remarkables and some downright heroic actions that these neighbors apparently will remember until the day they die their own deaths lead me to ask the obvious: why did she do it, then, when she had friends such as these?

Oh, but they only spoke in passing. Sometimes they exchanged Christmas cards by walking a few to each others' mailboxes.

Is it just that it was an interesting get-together on an otherwise dull, cold Friday, then? Why even bother to gather at her home and exchange stories of her hopeful times now?!? A little late well-intended fellowship, I'm afraid.

Because what I saw in the bedroom and indeed the entire home was extreme loneliness.

Be good to someone this weekend, people. Don't wait until it's too late to fill a few moments with something more interesting happening on the block than watching Judge Judy.