R.I.P. Leonard Bernstein

This might seem a macabre subject but it’s been on my mind for awhile and, what the heck, what’s a blog for anyway?

The Green Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY is a very large, historical plot of land smack dab in the middle of the borough. Up until about eight years ago it was full-up and strictly a resource for curiosity and research (lots of famous people are buried there) and the expense of maintenance and just generally keeping up appearances motivated the powers-that-be to reopen the cemetery to additional burials. This was done by removing existing roads and pathways, thereby creating new open areas. Hundreds of plots went on the market in the mid- to late 1990’s and, to put it rather oddly, revived the cemetery, not only for the dead but for the living.

For personal reasons I visit Green Wood often, in all seasons, and it is almost always a peaceful, calming and life-sustaining experience. Since I live only about half a mile from a side entrance (open on weekends) it’s an easy commute. Just walking (or driving) around is like walking (or driving) through history. It was established in 1838 and was, at the time of course, way out in the boonies from most settled communities and almost a lifetime from Manhattan if you’ll pardon the metaphor.

There are, of course, many examples of monuments and headstones illustrating the grief felt by the living; but there are an equal number of monuments that are wonderful works of art, both mournful and, yes, sometimes whimsical. Unfortunately, all of the new plots are regimented and the headstones are all of a size and shape…which is really too bad; but it was necessary because of the shape of the recycled areas, that is, the re-use of long narrow strips of land created by sacrificing the roads and paths. I understand, by the way, that all of these plots were snapped up within the first few months they went on the market-- but I have also noticed in the last six months that more roads are being ripped up and graded over so another garage sale must be in the works.

The point of this blog is not to convince you to visit Green Wood, although that’s not a bad idea on a nice day. The point is that, overall, cemeteries in general have been given a bad rap because of a misguided fear of the dead which is, of course, nutso. All Souls Day has a lot to answer for. With ghosts and rattling skeletons and jump-out-at-you creatures of the night, Halloween has instilled a very misguided and fearful attitude in children at a very young age; even carrying over into adulthood (you know who you are). This is undignified, disrespectful and, if you think about it, sacrilegious. We should be thinking of our dead as being at peace, not flitting about scaring the pants off our young.