My brother and I used to discuss the best way to die. Our two options were to die from a bullet or from an arrow. We would talk about it at length. But we never got to the part where we’re already dead and have a funeral. That would have been the next logical step. And although at the time neither of us had ever been to the funeral of a human, we had planned and carried out numerous funerals for our various pets that met their maker.

There was a special service for the Easter chicks who seldom lived past the chick stage. Now there is a funeral easy to prepare for.

A large cardboard matchbox, the kind household matches come in, is ideal as a coffin.

We’d line it with grass and carefully place the chick inside, lay more grass over his lifeless body and slide the box back into the cover.

Next we’d walk slowly in a procession out to the area prepared for the burial.

Usually the grave, fairly shallow, would already have been dug.

It would be a short but solemn service, beginning with the phrase, “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to lay to rest Sammy Chick, who met his death unexpectedly in an encounter with our cat. His death was quick, and we hope painless, and he will be missed.

“He was a good chicken and didn’t make trouble for anyone.”

Then we’d lay the deceased in the grave, cover it with dirt, cover the grave with leaves from the Chinese holly and sing “Jesus Loves Me,” a suitable hymn for a chicken funeral. For we all knew that God made and loved all things, and He cared even about a baby chick.

Then we’d drive a small cross made from sticks into the ground at the head of the grave and walk away to refresh ourselves with grape Kool-Aid.

Sometimes, when we were bored, we’d arrange a funeral for a dead grasshopper found in the yard. The ritual was much the same.

So if anyone has a preference for the kind of funeral they would like, it is advisable to go ahead and plan it. Otherwise, some of the choices made might not be to your taste.

I don’t want money spent on my funeral. What a waste. Cremate me. I want the money spent on the party celebrating life. Preferably, it would be nice to have the funeral party before I die, so I can enjoy it. There has to be good music and a lot of good food.

As far as music for the service itself goes, I’d like “Rhapsody in Blue” played, one of my all-time favorites, and at the conclusion of the festivities, “Just a Closer Walk with Thee,” played properly by a New Orleans Jazz band. They can march out the door after the party, followed by a procession of everyone who attended, who must all carry a parasol of their choice. And if they want to ride away in a black horse-drawn hearse pulled by a team of matching white horses with ostrich plumes attached to their bridles, more power to them.

I’d like people to dance. There’s nothing like dancing to lift the spirits.

As for the food, it has to be good.

Eastern North Carolina-style barbecue from Little Richard’s in Winston-Salem or from Wilson, N.C., or from the Center Presbyterian Church Ingathering. It’s all good. Also, steamed shrimp and hush puppies would not be amiss. Fried chicken would also be appropriate. And an assortment of excellent desserts would be much appreciated. Don’t worry about bringing a cake. Did I mention the desserts and side dishes would be brought by the guests? There’s nothing like a good pie at a party. Chocolate is always good. Lemon meringue is one of my favorites. I would like my old friend Virginia, should she outlive me, to bring her famous Dead Man’s Cake, one she takes to all families who’ve suffered a bereavement. It’s a very rich chocolate sheet cake with hot fudge icing poured over it when it comes out of the oven. It is named both for its purpose and also because too much of this dish can be fatal, and it might not be a bad idea to have a door prize. And there have to be lots and lots of flowers. But not cut flowers I’d prefer living plants and shrubs. They can all be donated to parks and places in town where a lot of people can enjoy them.

If I’m still alive for the party, I’d like to thank everyone for coming and tell them how much I’ve enjoyed being alive and how glad I am to count them as friends. No speeches, please. We all have our own stories, and it may be best to let sleeping dogs lie.

And my preacher can tell everyone how important it is to love each other, to forgive each other and to live at one with God and our fellow man.

Now, these are just suggestions. And by the way, don’t put gravel, pebbles or concrete on my grave. Y’all can spread sea shells. They’re beautiful and feed the earth. Since I might not be dead yet when we have the funeral party, I’ll wear the prettiest outfit I own. Then, if people want to say, “she looks so good” or “they really did a good job on her,” I’d be able to enjoy it.

Maybe I’ll have to go out and buy a black sequined party dress. But there will be no high heels. Life is meant to be a celebration, and no one can sincerely celebrate in high heels.

That’s the funeral I’d like to have. What’s your plan?

What if I asked you to name the most famous song that has come from South Carolina?

You’re stumped, right?

About now, you are scratching your head and thinking, “What could it be?”

What if I told you that the song is famous as the unofficial anthem of a huge social movement that affected tens of millions of people in America?

And what if I told you that the song had a huge impact globally and inspired tens of millions of people who sang it as a song of freedom and liberation in dozens of countries around the world?

And what if I told you that the song has even been adopted as the national anthem of a new county?

About now, I’ll bet you are feeling a little uneasy to think that you live in South Carolina and have no idea what song I’m talking about — right?

The song is “We Shall Overcome.”

No one knows the precise origins of the song, but we do know that it was first sung as a protest song in Charleston. In 1945, the song was sung during the Food and Tobacco Workers Union strike against the American Tobacco Company, which ran the cigar factory on East Bay Street in Charleston.

This mammoth cigar factory once produced more than a million cigars a day, and the workers who produced them were mostly African-American women, many of whom came into the city daily from the surrounding Sea Islands. They worked for low wages, in poor working conditions for long hours. And if they complained … well, you know the rest of the story.

As the five-month strike dragged on, the picketing women began to sing this simple song to boost their spirits and provide encouragement to each other.

One of the supporters of the strike, a white woman named Zilphia Horton, was so moved by the song that she submitted it for the 1948 issue of the “People’s Songs Bulletin.” Horton was the music director of the Highlander Folk School in Monteagle, Tenn., and she played the song for the many people who visited the school. Among those who were captivated by the song were Pete Seeger and Guy Carawan. Carawan is credited with introducing the song to the civil rights movement when he later became music director of Highlander in 1959, as many of the movement’s leaders were in and out of the Highlander School.

Seeger made some minor modifications to the song and added some verses, but most importantly, he performed the song in his 1963 world tour to 22 countries — thus he is credited with spreading the song globally. And when Joan Baez sang the song before 300,000 people at the August 1963 March on Washington, the song forever earned its place not only in the U.S. civil rights movement, but also history.

Seven months later, President Lyndon Johnson used the phrase “we shall overcome” in his address to a joint session of Congress. He was urging support of his voting rights legislation just after the “Bloody Sunday” attack on marchers at the Pettus Bridge in their march from Selma to Montgomery.

And, on March 31, 1968, just before his assassination in Memphis, Dr. King used “we shall overcome” as the theme of his final sermon.

Beyond the United States, the song has played an important role in many popular struggles for human rights all over the world. The two best known examples were the Catholic protest in Northern Ireland in the 1960s and ‘70s and the student protests in China’s Tiananmen Square in 1989. It was later adopted by various anti-Communist movements in the Cold War and post-Cold War era, especially the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia in 1989.

But its global impact goes far beyond just these examples. The song has played an important role in human rights movements in India, among the Aborigines in Australia, in France, South Africa, Martinique and Guadeloupe, Zimbabwe, Ecuador, Bolivia, Palestine and many other territories and nations around the world. After their long struggle for independence, in 2002 the people of East Timor briefly made “We Shall Overcome” their national anthem.

So now you know.

People far more knowledgeable than I can analyze why this song took on the significance it did. Part of it is that the lyrics are simple and easy to remember and repeat; the melody is also simple and easy to adapt for most any instrument — most importantly, for the human voice.

The power of the song’s simple affirmation of hope and determination is compelling — to many people in many circumstances in many places the world over.

This simple song, first sung in our state, has inspired, moved and sustained millions around the world in their fight for dignity and freedom.

We should all be very proud of this.

Phil Noble is a businessman in Charleston and president of the S.C. New Democrats, an independent reform group started by former Gov. Richard Riley. He can be reached at phil@scnewdemocrats.org.

Saitta weighs in on sick leave policy

Dear Editor,

I want to respond to the article about the employee sick leave policy.

The school district gives employees 12 to 15 paid sick days a year. Employees can accumulate the paid sick days they don’t use. At retirement, the district allows employees to use the first 90 days to extend their service time by three months for retirement pay purposes. It then pays those retiring employees a bonus equal to their daily pay rate for the next 45 unused sick days. It is called a bonus because they are paid twice for those days.

For example, let’s say an employee is working 200 days and making $60,000 ($300 a day). He is given 13 sick days. Whether he takes zero or 13 sick days that year, he is paid $60,000. If he didn’t take any sick days, at retirement he would receive a bonus of $3,900 (13 sick days not used times $300 equals $3,900).

Retiring employees could retire with up to a $20,000 bonus for unused and accumulated sick days. This bonus gives employees incentive not to use all their sick days through the years and stay with the district for the long haul. It is a quite generous sick leave policy.

There is another bonus for employees who leave the district for reasons other than retirement, and this was the subject of the recent vote. The district administration recommended the board pay those departing employees $50 a day for up to 45 days of accumulated but unused sick days.

I voted against this bonus for the employees leaving the district. The district is spending a lot of additional money now to boost pay. Additionally, medical costs are going through the roof. The district pays most of those increases. Money is tight in the budget, and I’d rather see that $50 bonus money spent in the classroom or used to sure up compensation for existing employees.

Alex Saitta

School board trustee

Pickens

Sleazy and deplorable

Dear Editor,

I find it odd that while a local newspaper reported Rep. Neal Collins as lamenting that 48 people were denied access and not recognized by the state GOP, it failed to mention an important determining factor why that decision was made. We can only speculate why this omission occurred.

According to the Greenville News, state GOP chairman Matt Moore said Collins had “gamed the system.”

Obviously, not only was this recognized by all the legal participants at the meeting, but also determined to be so by the state GOP, who, by affirming the convention, overwhelming agreed that county GOP chairman Phillip Bowers did, in fact, properly follow the rules, except for a few minor errors, and that Collins and his cohorts were simply gaming the system, deliberately hiding his herded delegates from the county party for obvious reasons.

I don’t really consider this decision a “compromise,” but more of a recognition of the techniques Collins and certain liberal tax-and-spend groups behind him, loaded with former Democrats (as is Collins) will stoop to in order to hijack the county GOP and forward their progressive agenda.

We would expect sleazy behind-the-scenes activity such as this to come from Democrats, but to have backstabbing activity like this being conducted by someone who calls himself one of our own is deplorable and demonstrates a true lack of character.

Dennis Reinert

Easley