Day 151 - The Cemetery

The Santa Cruz Cemetery

I know a lot of people freak out thinking of a cemetery.  I guess it is all the horror movies that abound today and the ridiculous idea that there are zombies.  In fact, cemeteries are often some of the most beautiful and peaceful parks that a city has.

When I was in college I dated a girl who told me she liked to take pictures of cemeteries.  I thought that was strange, until I went with her one Saturday afternoon.  We visited several of the small cemeteries in the Duncanville and Cedar Hill area.  They were simple places, mostly grass and tombstones.  But there were patches of flowers, lovingly planed there by families, or a bouquet left on a grave.  Sometimes you’d see pictures or flags.  It wasn’t scary at all.

Since then I have been visiting cemeteries in some of the places I have visited.  They often speak of the culture of the place that someone from the outside never really sees.  In Romania, the Merry Cemetery in Sapanta, showed the joy of life that they have in that place.

In Santa Cruz, family is so important.  I remember once teaching a class of 7^th and 8^th graders in the 80s.  It was half American/Canadian and half Bolivian.  When asked what is more important, family or friends, every one of the American said friends and every one of the Bolivians said family.  That is what they feel here.  They love their families.  If you manage to become a close friend, you will be like family to them.

So I introduce you to one of the loveliest parks in Santa Cruz.  It is so quiet here.  Amazingly it is on the First Ring, one of the busiest roads in Santa Cruz.  Yet you feel like you have entered a special cave where the sounds of the city have been blocked.  You can hear your own footsteps and the dripping of the rain.  The people who work here, cleaning and repairing, whisper. 

At times you will see a family visiting one of the tombs.  They arrive with things to clean what needs to be cleaned.  They will replace flowers.  You see the smiles on their faces.  They love the people that are here.  I have met many here with a deep religious fervor.  I know they are expecting to meet their loved ones one day. 

This is the hope I have.  This is one of the reasons I am a Christian.  This world is not my home, only a temporary stopping place.

“Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.  In a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet!  For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”  1 Corinthians 15:1, 2.