The view outside the kitchen window in my flat is not one that everyone would like. There is a wide space with open grass, then an iron fence that is partially lined with trees and bushes. Beyond that, is a cemetery.
I've already heard some people mention how depressing it is, having a graveyard as their view. But somehow, I find it neither morbid nor depressing. I find it oddly peaceful and calming. In a way, it helps me center a bit. A reminder that, in the long run, there is more to life than the many small problems that crop up along the way. Every single person in that cemetery probably had many times when life's little problems piled up to seem like huge insurmountable ones. But they don't matter now. What matters is that they lived, that they loved, and the legacy they left behind in their loved ones. They may be missed, but they are not totally gone; not as long as their legacy remains.
It may be one of your shorter posts, Deanna, but it's very poignant. I really enjoyed it and agree with you wholeheartedly. Thank you for sharing. I'd love to see a pic of that view posted if you get a chance. *waves*
ReplyDeleteI think you'd get along with my mother. She spends a lot of her free time in cemeteries cleaning and photographing graves for online records. She doesn't do this because anyone asked, or because she's paid, but because she wants to. To her, the memories that lay in the earth in these places are sacred, and never forgotten.
ReplyDeleteWhen I lived in London, my favorite part of my entire campus was the graveyard smack in the middle of things! My favorite place to be in the library looked right out over it. And another one of my favorite places in London was Bunhill Fields Cemetery, where William Blake is buried. I visited more than once -- and in the spring it was actually quite beautiful! I think I have a weird thing for cemeteries and graveyards, but I agree with you -- it's really interesting to think that these people are being remembered.
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly nice to know I'm not the only one. And Rose, a picture will be forthcoming; my problem is that I keep remembering around the times it's getting just dark enough that a picture wouldn't come out well!
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