‘I don’t know what it is, it’s..it’s love man. Somebody who cares.” This is a line spoken by one of the young men featured in the documentary ‘The Potter’s Field“. In the video below you hear this line spoken in reference to a marble stone left on someone’s gravestone, but I believe this line could be used to encompass the funeral process and profession.
The more I learn about this documentary the more excited I am for it’s release on June 1. I think that everyone who watches this documentary will experience a transformed option and view of the importance of a ‘funeral’ and attending a funeral.
Here is more information and a few other video clips about “The Potter’s Field: Documentary”:
What happens to the homeless when they die?
Four years ago the wrestling team at St. Xavier High School was offered an opportunity by their assistant coach, Ben Kresse, to do something positive for the community that would forever change their lives. The opportunity was to hold memorial services for the unknown, homeless, and those who had no remaining family to ensure a respectful burial. To this day, the students have volunteered their time and energy to make sure no one in Louisville, KY leaves this earth alone. Over the past four years there have been more than five hundred burials and not a single service has been missed.
Since the inception of the memorial program, seven schools and two colleges have joined St. Xavier’s efforts. After graduating, some of the students have gone on to other cities and tried to start similar programs to give dignity to those who might otherwise have been cremated or placed in the ground without a second thought or care. The philosophy of the students and teachers involved is simple, “You come into the world being held and loved, and you should leave the world in the same way.”
The Potter’s Field is a documentary film attempting to craft an honest portrait of the students and teachers involved as a means of recording their story and sharing their unique and important perspectives on life and death.
