Death and Dying

A bagpiper was asked by the head of a funeral home to play at the side of a grave for a homeless fellow. He had no family, no friends, so the service was to be at a "pauper's cemetery" in the Ohio back country. As the bagpiper did not know the backwoods, he got lost.

He finally arrived an hour late and saw the pastor had apparently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. The bagpiper felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. He went to the edge of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. He didn't know what else to do, so he began to play beautiful, melancholy music. The workers put down their lunches and began to stand near him, their heads hanging in reverence. He played his heart and soul out for this man with no family and friends.

In fact, he played like he'd never played before for this homeless man, and as he played "Amazing Grace", the workers began to weep. They wept, the bagpiper wept, they all wept together. When the piper finished he packed up his bagpipes and started for his car. Though his head hung low, his heart was full. As he opened the door to his car, he heard one of the workers say, "I never seen nothin' like that before and I've been putting in septic tanks for twenty years."