Lynch uses the phrase “one hand washes the other either way” in his writing to metaphorically say that we will help each other through life and it will come back to us in a good way. When Milo did Lynch’s laundry, Lynch tried to pay Milo and he replied with “one hand washes the other.” I feel like its sort of a way of saying you’ll pay me back some other way in the future. Or we have each other’s back. This metaphor becomes more important in the future because when Milo dies, Lynch has to decide how to place Milo’s hand in the casket and he thinks to back to what Milo said, “one hand washes the other.” This, what seems like an insignificant quote, becomes a real life element of itself. The quote is becoming personified in Lynchs’ life.
Lynch argues in his writing that funerals do not matter to the dead but to the living to come to terms with the universal fact of death. It is a chance to accept the events. He also explains how we bury the dead says a lot about us and our culture and how we treat it as such a formality. It puts value and meaning in what people relate to in life. I agree that death is as odd concept to deal with especially as living people, because it sheds light on our culture and how we treat each other after life. We treat it as such an event, an end mark to ones life and I feel as if it very respectful to how we treat one another. That is the least we can do when in life that is hard to come by.
Perpinan Perspective 