{"id":12819,"date":"2019-09-21T08:18:26","date_gmt":"2019-09-21T15:18:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/?p=12819"},"modified":"2019-09-23T06:26:30","modified_gmt":"2019-09-23T13:26:30","slug":"a-note-for-the-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/2019\/09\/21\/a-note-for-the-living\/","title":{"rendered":"A Note for the Living"},"content":{"rendered":"

We started noticing graveyards. We’ve been driving through Maine. Beautiful, of course, both the coast, the hills, and the mountains. Lots of small farms, and a haven for lobster (unless you are one). Lots of old buildings, well kept up but showing their age, connected to history. I suppose with that, the frequency of cemeteries is understandable. Still, it’s caught our attention.<\/p>\n

Where we live I hardly know of any. People die in California, too, but apparently we keep it hidden. “Why sadden the landscape?” Has it all been part of a plan?<\/p>\n

But in these parts, there’s no concealing. After seeing at least 20 along the roadside we started counting them, some acres large, others smaller. Within a few hours we were up to 30!<\/p>\n

I don’t know if the people that live here notice. I expect it’s something you get used to and don’t even see after awhile. But we wonder: By these ubiquitous reminders, are people more aware of their mortality? And if so, what good does it do?<\/p>\n

I’ve sometimes thought there should be one of those flashing speed signs\u00a0near every graveyard, the kind that tell you how fast you’re driving. Those silent gravestones might be calling us to “slow down,” to live life to the fullest. Or conversely, to “speed up,” also to live life to the fullest!<\/p>\n

Which would you take?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s a small one, notable for tilting stones. Withered histories.<\/h6>\n

We looked online and found there are over 7000 graveyards in Maine. So we’re not the first to notice; there’s a society dedicated to looking into these things.*<\/p>\n

But we drive on.\u00a0We have places to go and things to see before our bodies meet that little plot of ground with the memorial stone that afterward no one will notice much.<\/p>\n

Wonder what they’ll think. Probably something like,\u00a0 “Humm, there’s a lot of graveyards around here.”<\/p>\n

Meantime, we’re loving Maine. A wonderful place for the living.<\/p>\n

_______<\/p>\n

PS Here’s one from my favorite book: Anyone among the living has hope; even a live dog is better than a dead lion.<\/em> Ecclesiastes 8:4<\/p>\n

* And that’s only the southern part of the state; nobody dies in the north. (Nor does anybody live there.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s a message from those who have gone before, or could be if we’re alert to it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12819"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12819"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12819\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12846,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12819\/revisions\/12846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hyattmoore.com\/blank-slate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}