I was with a friend the other day when I started talking about cities, travel, and places I love. San Francisco, Washington, D.C., the Appalachians, Boston.
Some of the appeal of two of those places, Boston and Washington, D.C., is about their cemeteries, and the lives of the people who populate them.
OK, so I like cemeteries, not for some macabre reason, but because of the stories, the history, the texture of life that makes us who we are.
Wandering through these places of historic importance, my eyes dart from one headstone to the next, trying to decipher dates and letters, trying to recall if I ever heard of any of these people from history books.
Every once-in-while, I hit pay dirt, and see someone I know.
But, that makes me think, what about the rest of these people who aren’t pay dirt. Who are they? What did they do? What did they look like? How did they live?
Every life has a story. More to follow.
YES!! One of our favorite moments in a recent spring visit to New Orleans was at a local cemetary. The ravages of Hurricane Ike had taken its toll. It was still a sobering experience to stroll through that cemetary kept by a host of unpaid volunteers and just THINK about the lives of those graves we wandered past. These were REAL people in REAL time! Will someone wonder past OUR graves in some distance date and wonder who WE really were???
ReplyDeleteTom, I'm waiting patiently for the 'more to follow' as I have always been intriqued with Headstones and the history that they can unfold. My family will attest to it as I cannot visit a new city without visiting at least one cemetery.
ReplyDeleteWe have definitely come a long way from when Neanderthral Man used just a pile of boulders (cairns) to protect and mark the grave of the deceased. If one takes the time, often the Monument itself or its inscription, symbols and icons will reveal a story of those who once played a role, in what is known as The History of Humanity.
-Brenda-