Comments on: Time Well Spent in a Cemetery http://www.ocellated.com/2006/01/30/time-well-spent-in-a-cemetery/ A blog on my latest adventures, pictures, and travels Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:42:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Franklin http://www.ocellated.com/2006/01/30/time-well-spent-in-a-cemetery/comment-page-1/#comment-9931 Franklin Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:50:23 +0000 http://www.ocellated.com/?p=110#comment-9931 In Park City, Utah, a stone's throw from resort hotels, condos and ski lifts, is an old (for Park City) graveyard, largely ignored. In it are many grave markers that not only document the beginning and ending dates of a life, but are sculpted in many different shapes. Brushing aside advancing nature, you may discover an artistic representation of something important to the person who's remains lie beneath it, or to the family or friends who left that person there and then went on with their own lives. How sad that today our grave markers are largely plain and unadorned, or given over to simplistic platitudes that might just as well appear on a t-shirt. That tiny and crumbling graveyard in Park City was an education for me. It gave me connections to people I'd never known, and like you and your wife, I'm richer for it. In Park City, Utah, a stone’s throw from resort hotels, condos and ski lifts, is an old (for Park City) graveyard, largely ignored. In it are many grave markers that not only document the beginning and ending dates of a life, but are sculpted in many different shapes. Brushing aside advancing nature, you may discover an artistic representation of something important to the person who’s remains lie beneath it, or to the family or friends who left that person there and then went on with their own lives. How sad that today our grave markers are largely plain and unadorned, or given over to simplistic platitudes that might just as well appear on a t-shirt. That tiny and crumbling graveyard in Park City was an education for me. It gave me connections to people I’d never known, and like you and your wife, I’m richer for it.

]]> By: Vasha http://www.ocellated.com/2006/01/30/time-well-spent-in-a-cemetery/comment-page-1/#comment-191 Vasha Thu, 02 Feb 2006 02:16:54 +0000 http://www.ocellated.com/?p=110#comment-191 Beautiful post, Ocellated. I'm one of those atheists who came over from Pharyngula; whatever we disagree about, we may also find common ground in pondering life as it's lived. I'm going to add this to my list of thoughtful writings to reread. Beautiful post, Ocellated. I’m one of those atheists who came over from Pharyngula; whatever we disagree about, we may also find common ground in pondering life as it’s lived. I’m going to add this to my list of thoughtful writings to reread.

]]> By: keiths http://www.ocellated.com/2006/01/30/time-well-spent-in-a-cemetery/comment-page-1/#comment-187 keiths Tue, 31 Jan 2006 08:20:11 +0000 http://www.ocellated.com/?p=110#comment-187 Jay wrote: "Gone for over 80 years now, I’m guessing that man is forgotten. Even if his own family remembers him, it’s likely only by name." Richard Dawkins expresses a similar lament in "The Ancestor's Tale": "I remember my four grandparents clearly, but of my eight great-grandparents I know a handful of fragmentary anecdotes. One great-grandfather habitually sang a certain nonsense rhyme (which I can sing), but only while lacing his boots. Another was greedy for cream, and would knock the chess board over when losing. A third was a country doctor. That is about my limit. How have eight entire lives been so reduced? How, when the chain of informants connecting us back to the eyewitness seems so short, and human conversation so rich, could all those thousands of personal details that made up the lifetimes of eight human individuals be so fast forgotten?" Jay wrote:
“Gone for over 80 years now, I’m guessing that man is forgotten. Even if his own family remembers him, it’s likely only by name.”

Richard Dawkins expresses a similar lament in “The Ancestor’s Tale”:
“I remember my four grandparents clearly, but of my eight great-grandparents I know a handful of fragmentary anecdotes. One great-grandfather habitually sang a certain nonsense rhyme (which I can sing), but only while lacing his boots. Another was greedy for cream, and would knock the chess board over when losing. A third was a country doctor. That is about my limit. How have eight entire lives been so reduced? How, when the chain of informants connecting us back to the eyewitness seems so short, and human conversation so rich, could all those thousands of personal details that made up the lifetimes of eight human individuals be so fast forgotten?”

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