Barbeque Memorial

 

THE DIALOGUE
An abstraction from Cemetery to Mass Grave

Proposal

“The rows of grave markers in a New Westminster cemetery will be replaced by flower beds and park benches under plans proposed by the Queens Park Hospital Society. It’s a progressive move and the plan should enhance the whole area.”

Reaction

Brown charged that the cemetery was “covered over to provide a parking lot and the grave markers are now being used for a barbecue patio. It is a desecration which is made even more disgraceful by the fact that the Ministry of Human Resources is justifying the act by saying it is saving money.”
“Something else could have been done rather than simply giving the headstones away and having them end up as a sidewalk. I think that is atrocious.”

Defense

“Two levels of sun decks will allow patients to look right out over the cemetery which would have had 1800 concrete makers. Most of those patients will be elderly and would not like to be reminded of death by the sight of all those markers.”
“As for the remaining 25 tons of concrete recycled to the patio would they rather we just wasted the material? They’ll not be forgotten or ignored. There will be a shrine with a plaque in memory of them”

photograph courtesy of Lori Kittleberg