Papa is Buried Here
2010
To the young child, just learning to read, the cemetery can be an interesting place. Aside from all of the unusual surnames, there are some words which are repeated over and over in a cemetery. They are mother, father, papa, mama, brother, sister, daughter, friend, wife, husband. Coming face-to-face with a stone with papa carved in it creates many questions in the mind of a child. Who is buried here? When did he die? Was he sick? Did he have a child like me? What does he look like under the ground? What will happen when he is resurrected? Will he be the same? Who made this stone? How did they carve the words? How long has it been here? What was the papa’s name?
At first glance, it seems like an ordinary photograph. But it is not. It is a child, learning about adult things and forming very good questions. If the questions are answered well, he will understand death better when he sees it and will know that death is just a passageway from one place to another. A passageway with a light left on.