Dave's Fiction Warehouse

In which I bloviate about books, TV, movies, politics and other stuff -- all without the aid of ChatGPT!

  • Books
  • Movies
  • TV
  • politics
  • american life
  • Writing
  • Other Stuff

Connect

  • Email
  • Facebook

Powered by Genesis

It’s a depressing tradition

June 4, 2012 by Dave Knadler

A bit too festive for a murder scene.

Back in March, a guy was shot to death a couple of blocks from here. A week or so later, this makeshift shrine went up at the scene. It’s still there; I walk or ride a bike past it nearly every day. It’s beginning to get on my nerves.

The cops said the shooting — several rounds from an AK-47 in broad daylight — was drug-related. Around here, that’s about like saying the heat is sun-related. Drugs just never seem to bring out the best in people.

Nevertheless, there’s this shrine. The victim had some people who cared about him. A couple of “I ♥ Dad” ornaments suggest he was a father, if not a husband. All the flags hint at some streak of patriotism. There’s a little “Happy Birthday” ornament in there too. I think that’s when the shrine went up, on the guy’s birthday. Hell of a way to spend it, haunting the corner of 4th and Walnut.

This shrine bothers me for a number of reasons. First, it’s an eyesore. It’s like somebody tipped over a clearance table at Party Town. Second, it’s a daily reminder that a certain thug who doesn’t mind spraying bullets on a residential street is still out there — a crime like this, nobody talks to police. Finally, it’s publicly honoring a life that, judging by how it ended, seems almost totally wasted.

I know: The guy had a family, and a family has to mourn. I just don’t get this practice of erecting memorials along public thoroughfares where people manage to get themselves killed. It’s like a public statement that the moment of death — no matter how banal the circumstances — merits more notice than the life.

People should probably go to church more. Acquire some ways to cope with loss that don’t involve a visit to Party Town.

More along these lines:

  • Anti-social media
  • swastika on CSX building in JacksonvilleReich of fools
  • Is that all there is?
  • Highway 21 revisited
  • This could be
    the last time

Filed Under: american life, crime

Comments

  1. John H. says

    June 4, 2012 at 8:02 pm

    The moment of death, and the place. I’ve seen this too, including one currently on the median strip of a busy road I take to get to and from work. I used to see them all the time commuting to my last job on a canyon road.

    I’ve also seen people bring balloons and teddy bears to cemetaries – celebrating the birthday of the deceased? I don’t know. People are strange.

  2. Dave Knadler says

    June 4, 2012 at 9:22 pm

    Yep. Jim Morrison was wrong about a lot of things. But not about that.

  3. Pat N says

    June 5, 2012 at 3:31 pm

    I have always thought the same thing. I am mystified by it.

Recent posts

  • Full frontal Florida
  • Later, alligator
  • A writer on top
    of the short-story game
  • ‘The Passenger’
    will please refrain
  • Floaters in the stream

Recent comments

  • John H. on Full frontal Florida
  • Rachel Kohl on Later, alligator
  • Dave Knadler on Later, alligator
  • John H. on Later, alligator
  • Dave Knadler on Later, alligator

FInd something

send dave cash

The obligatory PayPal donation button. Go ahead: Make my day.