Little going on yesterday aside from the usual bustling around on errands. Went to the cemetery and was pleased to see the funeral director had put up a temporary marker with Pat's name and dates on it. I'll get the tombstone--oh, I forgot, "memorial" or whatever idiot euphemism we're using now--soon.
I'm not sure why, but marking his grave means something to me. I think my feeling is similar to those who lost people on 9/11. Many of them, I understand, gathered up as much as possible of their loved ones' remains to bury. Some, poor souls, could recover nothing, so buried things from home that were significant to those who died--a picture, a favorite sweater, souvenirs from a trip. I guess it's to have a focus for their grief, to feel that he or she is "there." That may be the reason I dislike the idea of cremation because--well, where are they?
Wider: There's a brand-new sensation in our sensation-crazed world: It seems that lines from a religious text show up periodically on the chubby leg of a baby in Russia. (Let's just skip over examining how this is possible from a biological or physiological point of view.) The "miracle" puts me in mind of the "Christ in the clouds" and "Blessed Virgin in a tree" phenomenon, not to mention images of the the deity on a taco chip, or whatever. Naturally, several citizens were interviewed to assure the world of what this means: that we must be better people and follow our Christian god more devoutly--.
Oops, wait a minute, hold the phone. These are Muslims and we're talking about the Koran here. Okay, "...that we be better people and follow our Islamic god more devoutly...." Wonder how that will fly with the fundamentalists in our country.
Now that balloon boy and his low-life parents have become last week's news, I guess we gotta have something to think about, aside from that pokey old war, and the dead-on-its-feet economy, and Mom's worrisome lump with no health insurance to cover it--.
You think this illustrates the old dumbing-down syndrome? Why,no, not all--why wouldn't Allah use his Magic Marker on a baby's leg?