2004.12.29
Roadside Memorials
Tonight my Mom was driving us home after picking up a new kitchen table. Ahead I saw a shape on the side of the road, a shape that looked like someone wearing a very ugly jacket. I wondered if this idiot was about to step into traffic until we were right on top of them. Then I realized it was an elaborate flower memorial for someone who had died in an accident.
I’m going to sound like a harsh bastard here, but get your damned memorials off the damned roadside! I am very sorry you lost a loved one. I sympathize with your loss and your pain. However some of these memorials are monstrous. This particular one has been up for two years. My Mom has seen less wary drivers swerve to avoid what they thought was a person stepping out into the road.
Is the side of the road the best place to try and remember your loved one? Wouldn’t your living room make a better venue? After a certain amount of time very few people aside from yourselves are going to know why there’s even a memorial at the side of the road. After two years I feel certain that many people will simply think that some idiot was drunk and drove off the side of the road and killed themselves. Possibly not true but but these things are irritating, distracting, and ultimately dangerous for those of us still living.
For the sake of those of us still living and driving these dangerous hunks of metal, glass and oil, please take down your memorials and put them in your living room or in your church or in someplace private. Driving can be dangerous enough; don’t make it worse. I doubt your loved one would want more injuries or death than their own.
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