Are Roadside Memorials a Distraction for Drivers?

People cope with tragedies in many ways. Some people try their best to forget, while others work to make sure the tragedy is never forgotten. The most constructive attitude towards memorials is sanctification.

We usually think of crypts as graves or coded messages, similar to the letter in Have His Carcasse.  The notion of a crypt, however, contains a deeper psychological meaning.   Crypts deal with the ideas of introjection and incorporation.  These concepts identify the alternative ways in which the psyche handles trauma.  When the psyche introjects a trauma, the trauma melds into the subconscious.  If the psyche successfully assimilates the trauma, it unites with the rest of the psyche, much like a cube of ice (the trauma) melting in a glass of water (the psyche).  Incorporation occurs when trauma embeds itself into the psyche, but remains separate and, therefore, separable.  If we return to the idea of the psyche as a glass of water, incorporation resembles what happens when a Ping-Pong ball (the trauma) drops into a glass of water.  The ball remains a lump in the psyche. Jacques Derrida wrote about the crypt “sealing the loss of the object, but also marking the refusal to mourn . . . I pretend to keep the dead alive, intact, safe (save) inside me, but it is only to refuse, in a necessarily equivocal way, to love the dead as a living part of me, dead save in me, through the process of introjection, as happens in so-called normal mourning” (“Foreword” 17). The tomb stands then as an incorporation of the trauma of death.  We physically mark the place of rest as a mirror of our inability to assimilate that trauma

Painful as it may be, such experiences brings home the finality of death. Something deep within us demands a confrontation with death. A last look assures us that the person we loved is, indeed, gone forever.” (108) Cable finishes his essay by asking, Tim if his job ever depressed him. Tim in reply says, “No it doesn’t, and I do what I can for people and take satisfaction in enabling relatives to see their loved ones as they were in real life.” (108) After reading this essay I feel as though sometimes we don’t understand death so therefore we do not talk much about it. By reading about what goes on after your loved one dies and is sent to these places to be prepared and ready for burial, it helps to understand why morticians and funeral directors do what they do. Knowing that someone enjoys taking the responsibility in providing that comfort in a sorrowful time makes me appreciate these people in these occupations a bit

According to Ashley Gaddis from Counterpoint, “From 1999 to 2008, nearly fifty-two thousand people were killed in car crashes caused by distracted drivers” (n.pag.). Distracted driving started when technology became mobile and handheld. Many people have died and gotten injured from people not paying attention to the road. This problem has been growing as technology advances. Distracted driving is a big problem and there needs to be stronger penalties and laws in place to deter people from distracted driving.

The issue was brought sharply into focus for me recently, when I was in the cemetery of Mission Santa Barbara. It was a sunny afternoon and the tiny graveyard was crowded with

The right to freedom of religion has started huge debate within the last few years. During the year of 2013 the Parti Québécois political party made a plan to eliminate workers from displaying any symbols of their religion in the public sector.

There are said to be four different ways people respond to tragedies, Ken Foote, a professor from the University of Colorado Boulder, has proven it. Based on his studies, the four attitudes toward memorials are sanctification, obliteration, rectification, and designation. Out of all four attitudes, sanctification would be most helpful. To define sanctification, it is when people

There are beauties unknown deep in the ground of Concordia. Stories that have been altered over the course of time and history that has tailgated behind these tombstones of deceased bodies. Gunfighters who thought they would rule the world were slain by the scythe of death. They were once owners of land, beholders of beauty, famous gun ringers, loving family members, and burdened veterans of war. Concordia Cemetery, the land that once gave birth to crops now lays burdened with the segregation of death, where even then people were all divided by their race, credentials, ethnicity and even gender. Gunfighters were caged underneath their tombstones where people were sure that they wouldn’t rise again.

During 2012-2015, more than 13,000 traffic deaths nationwide were due to distracted driving. It is believed that distracted drivers are 23 times more likely to get into a traffic accident as compared to those who are completely focused on the road.

As a student of funeral service, Reverence for the Dead is extremely important. I found this book interesting and it made me think a lot more about ethical practices. Todd Van Beck has been a wonderful teacher, but my time being his student has made me come to realize that he’s also a very good person. Todd Van Beck talks about very serious topics in this book from death, to funerals, to caring for the dead in a correct manner. Van Beck gives us his beliefs on the subjects along with beliefs of many well-known psychologists. The passage about Dr. Edgar N. Jackson (1910-1994) had a strong impression on me. I joined this career path because I believe in the importance of preparation, preservation, and beautification of the dead also. Dr.

Public burial sites were intended to serve the whole community and are closely integrated into community history. The sites carry multiple social and political

In every culture, respect is a quality that communities embrace around the world. Whether it be to remember a person’s achievement or to provide a sense of connection in a community, monuments link together the present and the past with the motive of respect. Memorials are far more relevant than a seemingly trivial granite monument that one could notice in a park (Source B); they embellish meaning, symbol, emotion, and memories into a collective emblem. In memorializing an event and creating a monument, it is essential for the group or agency to not only consider the basic elements such as the historical significance or size, location, and materials but also to acknowledge the emotional linkage the event or monument may induce through attachment

The responsibility of designing and building a monument is no small feat. After all, the end product is meant to memorialize important, and sometimes tragic events and/or people that have significantly contributed something to society. How does one begin to plan a memorial in the first place? Certainly, it can not be rushed, and can be a very grueling process. Several things need to be considered, including determining the proper location of a monument that suits the people who see it. One must also consider the intended audience and what the monument represents. Of course the simplicity or complexity of the monument structure must also be determined. Along with that, monument builders need to consider the positive and/or negative affects on people viewing the monument. In short, there are three main things that need to be considered when debating how, or even if, to make a monument.

Many people today hold on to the topic of immortality because they find it so difficult to say goodbye to a loved one. Placing flowers on graves is a popular way to remember the deceased. Even years after the person has died, the family members and friends still go to the gravesite to reminisce. People find it

Mankind’s history of burial practices and funeral customs are as old as civilization itself. There is no specific way to planning a funeral. Every civilization and culture has provided for their dead in different ways. Religion and personal beliefs play an important role in the burial practices and funeral customs of a given culture or civilization. Furthermore, each civilization and cultured ever studied have three things in common: some type of funeral rites, rituals, and ceremonies; A sacred place for the dead; and memorialization of the dead. As far back as the time of Christ, burials have been noted to take place. In time burial and funeral customs have become very distinct, interesting and