By Neil Fogarty
Recently, I’ve been exploring The Wonder of it All – Grief, the Solar Eclipse, and the Human Experience.
Solar Eclipse
This past week many of us witnessed one of the rarities in the natural world, a total solar eclipse. Standing in my neighbor’s driveway we chatted, stared, shouted, and stood in wonder as the moon engulfed the sun and turned day to dusk. The experience was indescribable: no matter how many pictures I took or how many times we have reflected on the event, all who experienced it agree that words and even pictures fail to provide the full effect of the experience.
Grief
Human grief is a lot like the solar eclipse. We know that, like the eclipse, we will all grieve at some point in our lives. We hope, like standing in the shadow of the moon, that these times in our life are brief and rare. Unfortunately, grief often finds us with much greater frequency, especially as we age. Similarly, we do our best to hold on to the memories, recount the stories, and bathe in the wonder of it all. Just like the eclipse experience, our grief is indescribable. This is where the beauty of memorials helps.
Whether you think of a headstone, tombstone; bronze memorial; or a planted tree in the field, memorials give us a place to remember; this important detail is lost in modern society. So many in our current times scoff at the idea of a memorial, yet will pilgrimage with their families to a Civil War battlefield, a park, or even our Nation’s Capital to do what? To gaze in wonder at the memorials erected to remember those lost. Why is it that we have lost the wonder of remembrance?
The Human Experience
The simple answer is that Americans are lousy at death. We want to “move on,” “move forward,” “get it over with” instead of taking the time to grieve and remember. Society has forgotten the purpose of memorialization: to take memories channeled through grief and create lasting visions of love. To memorialize is to take that moment and attempt to remember the wonder of it all, the wonder of a life well lived, gone too soon.
Dodds Memorials has been helping people navigate their own versions of The Wonder of it All – Grief, the Solar Eclipse, and the Human Experience for over 160 years. We would value the opportunity to start a dialogue with you. Schedule a Consultation today.