...by homemade roadside memorials. I don't know why, but I always have to resist the urge to stop and pay my respects. I want to know why they're there, who these people were... how long the shrine has been in place.There's a corner near my house where there has been a memorial as long I can remember... it's on a chain link fence and gets things added to it pretty regularly. There are always a couple of balloons or flowers added recently to the mix. I wonder if some forlorn family member lives nearby and adds these things, or if there are just people like me, people who are compelled to stop and visit.
I heard once that gangs are using them as drops for drugs and weapons; that they'll set up a fake memorial and will then organize times to stop and drop stuff off and then someone else will come by and pick it up.
That saddens me.
These memorials are there for a reason, and knowing that there's even a possibility of them being fake bothers me to no end. I always take a moment to think about the person being remembered; it doesn't matter that I know *nothing* about them. That isn't the point.
Who knows. I've never actually stopped at one... I think I'm afraid of someone who actually has a "right" to be there will stop by at the same time and that I'll feel like some sort of impostor... like I have no reason to be there, so why am I?
*sigh* I guess all I can do is pray that I never do have a reason to stop and mourn at a roadside memorial.
