Why Worn-Out Tombstones Are Depressingly Beautiful

Hey everyone. So, today I was taking a walk in-between writing sessions and wandered by an old cemetery near my apartment. It's a cute little patch of grass with tombstones planted firmly in the dirt. Most of these tombstones are hundreds of years old (from what I can read, at least). For some of these cement markers it's extremely hard, if not impossible, to read what they say at all. They're so worn down from decades of Missouri weather. I've often wondered why they're even still there.

For memorable reasons, of course, but I can't imagine anyone knowing who was lying underneath the ground unless they were the one that put them there. There's got to be something to do with these old hunks of cement then watching them decay. It's kind of depressing when I think about it. Seeing a tombstone falling apart and decaying to nothing makes me think about the person it's supposed to be reminding me about. The tombstone is basically showing me what's happening to the person underground. And here's a sadder thought: the old tombstone fading to nothing makes me think about the person's memory. What if tombstones get worn and neglected because the family has forgotten about it. They've forgotten to have the tombstone fixed or replaced because they've forgotten about the person. Heavy stuff.

In a way, though, isn't that kind of a good thing? I mean, the family has moved on. They're not keeping their lives hitched to the tombstone in a sense. It's sad when there's a death, but what does everyone say at one time or another? "It's time to move on." Move past the grief and continue living. It's hard, and in itself a sad thought; that someone can just forget about someone they once grieved for, but it's life. That's the difference, I think, between life and death. In death, you're stuck; stuck in one place that you can't leave. Life is continuous motion; moving forward. If you keep yourself in that place with death then you'll stop living.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that worn out tombstones can be a depressing sight, but also a beautiful one. Beautiful in a Tim Burton or Edgar Allen Poe sort of way. The fact that the tombstone is neglected is confirmation that the family has chosen to continue living; to move forward. I think it's a beautiful sight. At least, I do now. I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting this post to go in the direction it did, but I am a gardener after all. I was hoping to pitch ideas on how to help old tombstones find new uses in the world. I read an article about a guy who puts them in his garden. This, of course, is after the family buys a new tombstone for the grave. I'm glad with the way this went though, and I hope you are too.

I hope I didn't bum anyone out too bad today, but I think I brought it back with that beautiful thought. That's something I think a lot of people don't realize about death. It can be just as beautiful as anything else. You just have to open your mind and really see the world from a different perspective. It can drop a lot of stresses off your shoulders. Some you may have not even known about. Ancient stresses that humans have carried since the beginning. Death is scary because we don't understand it, but if you allow yourself to try to you may learn a thing or two about how the world works. You may learn something about yourself as well.

Alright, I think I've gone on long enough. Let me know what you guys think about this post. If you have any question, leave a comment and I'll answer as soon as I can. See you all tomorrow.

Buh-bye.