TELEGRAMS

I'm teaching a lesson about communication today, so it got me thinking.

Used to be that telegrams meant only one thing:
A death.

That was the method of notification - at the time, it was fast, efficient and reliable.

I honestly don't know how death notifications are done now - phone call? An officer of the law showing up at your doorstep? Do they just send you an email, and hope that you are on the Internet?

I know with the military, it's always done personally, and I LOVE the logic of the 'how' (care of the all-knowing, all-powerful wikipedia):

For military notifications, there are usually three persons involved: the notifying officer, a medic (in case the family member faints), and an officer that stays in the car in case the family members react violently.

So why does the officer stay in the car; so he doesn't get hurt? So he can drive quickly away and abandon the other two? So he can simply witness the murder of the notifying officer and the medic?

Geesch.

Sorry - perhaps a bit of a morbid attitude, but it makes me giggle (note: take a look at the name of this blog).