A Day With The Dead

The other day we visited Atlanta's Oakland Cemetery, which holds many bodies belonging to confederates, Jews, blacks and some others of significant importance. I shouldn't have to mention that most of these types were buried in separate areas. (The dead can be pretty particular about whose elbows they're rubbing up against, never mind anything else that goes on six feet underneath the ground with a decomposing corpse.)


I won't bore you to tears about the cemetery, but I'll share a few pics with you. Margaret Mitchell was one of the ones I wanted to see since she's of course the author of "Gone With The Wind" and a former resident of Atlanta. It's unfortunate that the demise of such a romantic woman would be caused by something as mundane as a traffic accident (she was hit by a taxi), but I suppose there are more fascinating ways to die that I wouldn't wish on many.



I then stumbled across this burial plot of a little girl, who if I remember correctly, was one of four sisters to die of diphtheria.


It's amazing how far we've come in regard to scientific advances in the medical field which prevent us from dying of common and ubiquitous illnesses which would have easily killed a lesser prepared population of yore. I find it particularly interesting that many say we're playing God when we try to 'artificially' prolong life and decide that prayer is instead the route one should take. Are you playing God if you visit a doctor? Are you playing God if you take medication? Are you playing God if you get your child vaccinated? You are, after all, essentially improving your health which may aid you in circumventing nasty little diseases that perhaps God may have placed there to begin with. How dare you attempt to live a long and fruitful life!

Unfortunately, many do believe that the aforementioned points should be taken seriously and are devoutly against any form of medical help and that a death [actually] caused by their negligence is rather [presumptuously] a show of their lack of faith. They didn't pray or believe enough, they say.

I didn't intend to go on a diatribe about stupidity, but I suppose I shouldn't lose my head over this - kinda like this creepy statue. I wonder if the family knows that the tornado that ripped through here recently caused this, because it would be an unfortunate coincidence if this is how the person actually died.