How do you all feel about people who make their car into a memorial of a deceased person?

You know, an F150 with " In loving memory of so and so" etched onto the window.

Here in Florida, people also make a makeshift memorial out of places people die in a car accident by bringing flowers, erecting plaques(actually sanctioned by the state)pictures and any type of thing you would bring to an actual burial site.

I think those things are ridiculous. If I die in a car wreck, the last thing I want is for someone to come and cry or throw flowers at the place I died.

Especially after a car wreck. What make you think I was happy there? People don't go and graffiti the walls of the hospital room you died in.

Bring them to the place I am buried. Also, don't dedicate your friggin' car to me. Your house, your wife, but not a car.


What about when people write in memoriam of someone who passed away by placing an ad in the paper on the anniversary of their death?

It just seems to me that all those thoughts should be private.

In the case of the newspaper ad, they are actually written as if the deceased person is reading the paper.

Does everyone who reads the paper actually have to know how you feel about someone?


Forgive the rant!

Goodnight

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although unintended, the roadside memorials also serve as graphic reminders to other drivers of the dangers of driving, both to motorists or pedestrians.

As far as whats in newspapers, you don't have to read.
As for the roadside displays, interesting. In our culture the one taboo subject is death. ( A century it was sex--my how times change) Perhaps those roadside displays serve to remind people of the uncertainty of life. Is that a bad thing?
I lost 4 close friends in a crash almost two years ago. This summer, my work sent me over the highway where they were killed and a very tasteful display had been erected. I found it "errie". and disquieting for the next hour or so. I had never before been to the site of their crash. I wasn't expecting it on that day.
No one is forced to erect displays. I believe they probably make a contribution to the public welfare, awell as serve as a reminder that no one lives forever.

As in... "Watch out for this ditch!"

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I don't see any harm in any of these displays. And having never experienced the unexpected death of a close friend or family member, I choose not to question how the surviving members need to deal with their grief.

I'll add that if I allowed myself to get angry over everything others do that I disagreed with, I'd be dead already of a heart attack Live and let live, I say.

" Live and let live..."
I don't hear that very much anymore.
Its not a bad starting place. Of course, if we all did that, postings to this forum would probably drop off a bit.

How about an annual memorial in the paper on the anniversary of your DOG's death? True, seen this a few times. Now get this, the dogs owner says the dog liked hearing "Point of Light" by Randy Travis and writes the whole frickin' song in this memorial in the paper. Goofball or what?
Gilly

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How safe can it be to erect a roadside memorial, at the scene of an accident, when other traffic will continue to come and go? Doesn't seem to safe to me.

While a plaque quite often does lets some people know there was a tragedy, people oftn slow down to look and read the names, drop flowers, etc... again, how safe is that.

I was always under the impression you were supposed to mourn at the burial site, not the accident site.

.02

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How about "This tree will f--- you up" instead of the memorial.

Or "look both ways and run like rin tin tin or be pancaked".

Or "Run this stop sign and get your ass sued off"

or train crossings

"Does Newton ring a bell?"

Oh geez I'm killing me.

I'll bring some flowers and a plaque so people will know not to laugh so much at their own jokes.

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Would you want someone to come and bring flowers over your eternal resting place or at the scene of the accident?

What makes more sense?

I go to my granfathers burial site, bring flowers and clean up. If I were have that same attention at a crash site, I'd have to bring a street sweeper.

I saw one recently where a guy was killed on a motorcycle and the next day, there were dozens of people bring flowers, laying wreaths at the damn crash site, making trafic worse than at the time of the accident.

What do you tell your boss, "Uh, I need a couple of hours off, a friend passed away"

Ok so you're going to the funeral?

"No, I'm gonna bring some flowers and dropped them off on the side of the Turnpike where he died"

Bring the flowers to the grave site........besides, lots of people could have died at that same site, there's only one person buried in the grave. At least you get the right one.

.02

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Enough about me, how are you doing?

Don't know how far away you are, but I was up in Sebring today, just got back. It's getting a littel chilly up there. For Florida anyway. I heard it may drop down to 32 degrees today or tomorrow.

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Enough about me, how are you doing?

I don't have a problem with such memorials....If it helps someone deal with their grief, then what's the harm? As long as it is not impeding traffic or visibility or causing any such safety problem, then it's fine with me.

I personally don't see the point of repeatedly visiting such memorials, though....You should visit your loved ones while they are ALIVE, not after they die!

If there is ever a memorial, gravemarker, or whatever when I die, I want it to read: "Hey, thanks for coming by to show you care, but don't be wasting your time hanging around here......I'm dead, I can't see you or hear you! Go enjoy YOUR life while you can!"



Mike

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