shrines

I have noticed before that as soon as I post something apologetic about my lack of posting, I suddenly am inspired to write more. As my mother always said, getting started is the hardest part.

Today I walked past the place where a man was murdered last week, near to one of the highschools I work with. An impromptu shrine of sorts had been set up, just like you might see at the site of a highway accident. I wanted to see what I could learn about the deceased. I figured by the two whoppers and the stolen burger joint menu that he really liked burgers. I also determined by more than a dozen (empty) bottles and one branded baseball cap that he REALLY liked Jack Daniels. There were also a good number of candles, flowers, and pub T-shirts.

In highschool, when my friend died in a kayaking mishap, I bought an apple fritter from Tim Hortons and left it on her doorstep.

It's an odd, unspoken and somewhat universal behaviour to create "shrines" and leave gifts for the dead, and I'm not sure I quite understand it.