Honoring the Dead

One thing that does not make any sense to me is why do we have to honor the dead? They are dead. Once they are dead they do not care if they are honored or not. All the hopes and dreams are non-existent for the dead, all the suffering and the joy are removed from the dead. The dead could not care less if they are honored or condemned. I do not care what happens to dead people, for me they are just objects. But I do care what happens to living people. Instead of being concerned about honoring the dead, which makes no sense, how about we put more emphasis on caring for one another when we are still alive? You see this phenomenon I am talking about with so many people. There might be people that some person dislikes. But once these people die he starts to give them honor. Why? He should have given them the respect, if they earned it, while they were alive, not when they become dead. It just makes no sense to me. Can someone explain why we need to honor the dead?