COTD 1

There is a very small cemetery by my house which is one of the ones I decided to walk around with. It is almost like it is out of a movie scene. I decided to walk around after work one night. There was unexplainable feeling of uncomfort as I walked around the cemetery. Although I like to think of myself as a rational person there is something about the idea of death and being surrounded by it that makes me uncomfortable. Maybe it is my lack of religious faith and my belief that once things come to an end, they simply end. Maybe it is the fact that I don't want to die. As a young man with much life left ahead of me the thought of death seems so distant and unreal that thinking about it scares me. Yet, I took a quick walk around the cemetery and then I stood by the gate and simply sat there and watched. It was such a small graveyard yet the feeling inside of me made me realize how truly influenced by society I was. Even though I am conscious of the fact it had the same effect on me and it was in this that I realized why some many people chose burials and handle the care of the dead int he way they do.

The second graveyard I took a walk in was the greenwood cemetery. It is a huge cemetery going down fort hamilton road in brooklyn. I was walking in this cemetery during the day. This cemetery has many huge tombstones and memorials. In this cemetery I had a completely different experience. I was much less attached emotionally. All I saw was excess. People dying to be remembered one way or another, no pun intended. Or maybe there is a pun intended. We do live our whole lives to be remmebered when we die, obviously there are different extremes and methods of doing so but essentially we are one in the same. The huge funeral and tombstones cements this. We know that we were special to some people and those people remember us and mourn us and celebrate us through these traditions. Although this is understandable, is this the way things should work? Is this the way we should live our lives? Is this the way we should care for the dead? It is hard to say whether our traditions are shallow or excessive, or maybe there are both. Regardless we all have to face death and deal with death, the question is whether the way we do so is truly meaningful.