Cemeteries

We went to Boonville, IN today - a late trip in the waning hours of sunlight. There was a large cemetery near the center of town, probably seven to eight acres of stone strewn and stacked to commemorate the dead. The graves were mostly simple ones, with a few taller structures jutting upward against the darkening day.

I looked upon those gravestones, and for the first time in my life it struck me that a graveyard is a Hollywood miniature of a town, like in that movie "Beetlejuice". Only, in a cemetery, each grave is a home save the sidewalk and the street out in front (although some graveyards even have those paths for traffic).

Those who walked this life with wealth and the need for larger homes, generally find a way to secure a larger tomb as well, so it all seemed fairly fitting to me - the way the people were represented so. Except, everything at a graveyard is scaled down to fit reality. Say you shell out half a million to build a really grand home. Well, figure you pay ten percent of that to make sure people know how much you did have when you could have. That's something.

All that you did to win the recognition of the world eventually amounts to another crowded scene where realty doesn't come cheap and you're all but forgotten once the newbies move into the neighborhood. If you're really unlucky, they'll just build a cemetery somewhere else, and you'll be left to the earth and anonymity. Even stone wears away, or otherwise remain unturned and unnoticed.

There is no good place to die; there is neither any good place to remain dead, I'm afraid.