Litter or Memorial?

[sugarlips]

Originally Posted by AksarbeN

However if there are piles of flowers and glass containers with candles placed everywhere on campus or near the buildings where the shooting occurred after several months everything becomes weathered and appears unsightly. When that happens it no longer is a memorial it is “litter”. If people have any respect for those who have lost their lives then at least “respect” them enough to give them a permanent memorial marker at an appropriate location that is maintained.

Do not disrespect someone’s life by leaving litter as a memorial reminder of them.

Not everyone can afford a permanent memorial. Some can't even afford a head stone for the graves of their loved ones. Some people cremate their loved ones because they cannot afford a coffin and cemetery plot. It doesn't have anything to do with respect. I have relatives buried all over the country. Their graves are not tended to on a regular basis. According to you, I must not have respect for their lives because the gravesites look dirty and unkept with dead flowers and momentos. Now, I'm sure you are going to reply that a gravesite is the "proper" place for a memorial and memorials in these public places are not appropriate. You are entitled to your opinion.

I have to say that your comments are so callous and disrespectful. From these few posts, you have shown the type of person that you are which is why I refuse to discuss this any further. You can respond if you wish but I am not going to take part in this thread any longer. I pray that your heart will soften.

[Tink1901]

I am one of such people who lost a loved one (my daughter) on one of the roadways in Minnesota to a car accident on July 4,2008 and a friend of ours Father made the cross that is at her accident site the 2 weeks to the day after my daughter was killed he passed away it was the last thing that he did as a memorial to my daughter and now because the people who live near the site think that it is a distraction it has to be removed. Why don't they have the tree that she hit removed also because that will also be a distraction the bark will never grow back on it and that is 6 feet up on the tree.

[zenkonami]

Regardless of one's feelings about the matter, doesn't it seem as if placing and maintaining some of these memorials could be hazardous?

Personally, I consider them part of the culture and don't mind when they start to fall apart as long as they're not getting strewn all across the road as hazards. It sort of summarizes the desert.