Posted on 09/27/2010 9:50:57 AM PDT by PA BOOKEND
Tell me about it after your kid is killed on the highway by a drunk driver or someone talking on a cell phone or someone just not paying enough attention. I think there are more important things for us to dao rather than attack grieving families. That’s what these memorials are that bother you so much are...they’re evidence of some families deep felt grieve and pain.
I hate them too. If any boneheads ever decide to challenge the 100+ year old oak trees out in front of my house (many have tried, all have failed, none have died....yet) and a shrine goes up it will be immediately ripped down and they will be charged with trespassing.
And it will stay ripped down and they will be told in no uncertain terms to get off my property and stay off.
They are nothing more than “A moron died here” signs.
They can also be a hazard. A blind friend walked into 2 bicycle shrines in Chicago recently; one is very close to a street corner.
The creepier ones are t-shirt that African-Americans usually have with a picture of the deceased relative. The Wall St Journal did a story on it and it is a cottage industry. It includes the rear window treatments for cars.
I think a little of this occurs in the hispanic community too.
It is often gang members getting shot and killed at a young age.
I’ve noticed those, too. It would never occur to me to put such a decal on my car. Seems an odd way of expressing grief. But to each their own.
well, this ain't New Mexico, FRiend. this is America!
As a previous poster noted, whatever happened to grieving in private? What is the meaning of public grief?
Wouldn’t these signs increase the chances of future accidents because they serve as a distraction.
This is my reaction as well. I don't get my panties in a bunch and throw an irate rant when something reminds me to drive safe every time I drive past it.
I like the lighted sign that announces the speed of passing cars in front of our local elementary school as well.
Because it makes them feel important. It gives them value that they do not normally have, because their suffering is more epic than every one else's suffering.
It is just one more manifestation of the "look at me!" culture that infests our land.
Somebody once said [can’t recall who] that “Funerals are for the living, not the dead.”
I don’t intend to even have one.
I consider them an insane waste of money and ground space.
Simple cremation and that’s it.
Those who do really care for me need not stand around and weep in public and those who don’t need not show up and pretend that they did.
The family is Catholic and placed those candles in jars with pictures of Jesus and Mary on them on the spot where his car left the road. Gave them a lot of comfort and harmed no-one.
Live and let live.
In South Dakota, they’re officially placed by the state as a permanent road sign: “Why Die?” they ask. Apparently, the State of South Dakota believes, along with Harry Reid, that the normal human condition is one of immortality.
On the other hand, they let you know where the dangerous sections are.
That reminds me of when this grieving family tried setting up a shrine in my neighborhood after their child was run over. The owner of the property that was adjacent to the scene of the accident ran them off before they could set up anything. I don’t know if he thought of them as morons or anything. He just didn’t want a shrine near his property.
On the nasty, wreck-infested turn where my friend was killed, there hasn’t been an accident there, since.
[maybe people *do* see the memorial more than I thought they would]
I know, I just don't get the whole "my uncle died......but here's a nice candle in a jar by the side of the road for your viewing pleasure."
Oh the irony is just too much.
I recently buried my uncle.
While reviewing various plots with the cemetery administrator I was surprised to see the “gangster” headstones for all of the recently deceased (shot) thugs.
Engravings complete with gold teeth, guns, money, etc...
I remember a couple of years ago some state - I believe it was Maine - floated a trial balloon, namely that it would cost $400 to put up a roadside shrine.
Why do folks want to memorialize the moment of death? Gives me the creeps, too, just like it does many people. And it comes off as selfish, imo. As others have said: “look at me-ism”.
I used to think that standard markers should be placed at the site of every road fatality as a warning. More experience in life and education in road safety engineering tells me such markers would not make much of a difference in driving habits, and may even encourage more accidents through a number of psychological effects.
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