Graves

Burying dead bodies has been a sacred act for centuries. The Bible describes Abraham making the first ever recorded land deal for the purpose of burying his wife. It was a nice little field with a cave near Hebron and a steal at four-hundred shekels. The Hittites were astonished at this price. Even Abraham's wife, Sarah who was not yet dead at the time of the purchase, had a strong reaction to the deal. She claimed that her eternal resting place should cost a great deal more, and for Abraham to bargain on the price proved that he didn't love her so much. Sarah went so far as to insist that Abraham pay more. She was buried shortly afterward.

Years later, the tradition of placing a headstone at the grave site came into practice. Its purpose was to keep the dead body in the ground. Family members worried that the deceased would rise up to take care of unfinished business. While walking the earth, the dead would create much mischief and scare the crap out of those whom had not made their peace with the deceased. Back then, companies that manufactured headstones had slogans like, "Keep your loved ones in their holes."

Today, headstones can be beautiful. My friend Alan collects pictures of unusual and finely crafted monuments to the dead. Except, when he snaps the photos he stands right on the grave. I feel that this was disrespectful and, once when I went with Alan to a cemetery, I asked him not to do that. To show me how silly my request was Alan started to dance on top of someone with the last name Milloy. I felt deep down that this was way out of line, but Alan is such a good dancer I just relaxed and enjoyed it.