For Whom The Bell Tolls
From Tri-Town Transcript:
"Deaths from vehicle crashes leave surviving family members and friends of victims with a hole in their hearts and no safe place to grieve at the spot where the deaths occurred. Whether in pursuit of closure, remembrance or hopeful prevention, creating a roadside memorial has been an increasingly common practice for those who've lost someone. Whether these memorials are helpful or harmful, though, has become a controversy across the country."
I've seen these memorials by the road while driving along and I'm not sure why people feel compelled to commemorate the place where their loved one lost his life. I think I'd be more likely to want such a memorial to be somewhere that I identified most with the person while he was alive.
posted by Presley Bennett @ 8/05/2005
2 comments
2 Comments:
It's not only at vehicle accident sites that some do this. A local woman was kidnapped and murdered in my home town when I was in high school. To this day, there is still a memorial at the "area" where they found her. It is right on the side of the busiest street in town, even though she was actually found about a mile back from that spot. I also know of a spot where a victim of a drive-by shooting has a memorial on the sidewalk.
I think maybe these people just don't know how to cope with such a sudden loss, that they do whatever they possibly can, to try and connect with those they have lost. Thankfully I have never had someone close to me die like that.
I can understand if the memorial was blocking the view of drivers, but other than that, I say let the families grieve in any way they want to.
I agree that everyone grieves in his or her own way...and I wasn't meaning to question that. I just think I'd do it differently (and like you I haven't yet had to face that horrible situation) and try to remember the person while he was alive.
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