This is at the end of a road I drive down on my way to work.
I remember hearing a story some years ago about these roadside memorials. As I recall, the tradition of marking the scene of a loved one's death began in Mexico and was brought to the U.S. by immigrants. Amazingly, I found the story in NPR's archive. I don't notice these in cities, but there are quite a number of them where we live. This one is just down the road a bit from the above picture; I think there is another, smaller cross hidden in the grass, which makes me wonder if two people died here and if it was in the same accident.
2 comments:
There's one of those memorials along Ann Arbor Rd. just west of Plymouth. And I've seen memorial crosses put on telephone poles at intersections in Canton....those have most often been pedestrian deaths.
When you think about it, they aren't that much different than people going to lay flowers and stuffed animals like they did for Princess Diana, the Murrow Ct. Building in Oklahoma City, and the plane crash site in Pa. (which is near my sister's home...people still leave memorial items there.)
Thank God for the softness of people's hearts....leaving flowers, stuffed animals, and crosses are a nice gesture. But it would be good if we could then turn those gestures into something that makes a lasting difference among those who are still knocking around here on earth. Something I need be better about, myself.
There was a story in the news recetly about a family that put a cross and flowers at the scene of an accident that took the life of one of their children. The property owers took it down and of course the family was very up set. I don't blame the property owners at all. Looking at the cross every day would be more than I could bare. On the other hand if the family wanted to plant a tree near the accident site I would be honored to do so.
I agree with Valerie. Give a donation to a charity, help build a home for the homeless or do my favorite plant a tree. The list for helping our fellow humans is endless.
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