As a bagpiper, I play many gigs. Recently I was asked by a funeral
director to play at a grave-side service for a homeless man. He had no
family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper’s cemetery in
the Kentucky back-country. As I was not familiar with the backwoods, I
got lost; and being a typical man I didn’t stop for directions. I
finally arrived an hour late and saw the funeral guy had evidently gone
and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and
crew left and they were eating lunch. I felt badly and apologized to
the men for being late. I went to the side of the grave and looked down
and the vault lid was already in place. I didn’t know what else to do,
so I started to play. The workers put down their lunches and began to
gather around. I played out my heart and soul for this man with no
family and friends. I played like I’ve never played before for this
homeless man. And as I played ‘Amazing Grace,’ the workers began to
weep. They wept, I wept, we all wept together.. When I finished I packed
up my bagpipes and started for my car. Though my head hung low my heart
was full. As I opened the door to my car, I heard one of the workers
say, “Sweet Mother of Jesus, I never seen nothin’ like that before in
the twenty years I’ve putting in septic tanks!”