First Impressions

Kimberly Ziccardi
Spring Grove Cemetery Colloquium
Marcha Hunley
2 July 2009
Cemeteries have never given me a good feeling. I always get goose bumps, whenever I think of walking around a cemetery at night. They are gloomy and scary places and definitely no place for children. To me it’s like an unwritten rule not to go lurking around them. I guess in a way I feel it is disrespectful to walk on top of the dead. I even still hold my breath for as long as I can while driving passed them. When I was young, I always justified it by thinking it was unfair for me to be able to breathe and take their air when they are unable to breathe at all. Sounds like more of a goofy justification now that I am older. Growing up, I would watch movies in which they were always portrayed as mysterious places with trouble lurking at every corner. It is where the dead rest and do not want to be disturbed. The main reason behind the fear is due to it being such an unknown place and experience. Also, there are hardly ever happy feelings and emotions attached to a cemetery. The main reason for even being in a cemetery is due to death and morning of loved ones. These are hardly applicable reasons to simply make a cemetery a hang out spot.
I feel the main idea of a cemetery is more for the purpose of the people left behind rather than the dead themselves. Burial grounds and tomb stones allow the living the opportunity to properly morn over their lost loved ones. To visit them on a regular basis and to never forget the mark they had on earth while living. Cemeteries allow visitors to say what was never able to be said when the dead was living. It allows the living to have closure towards the tragic event that has just occurred and a proper good bye to be stated. Lastly cemeteries give lasting memories of those that have passed away with each unique personality engraved in their tomb stone permanently attached to their grave.