How hard is it to remember people well.  We can remember faces, but even after a few weeks of not being with someone, their memory or the detailed memory of their faces becomes hazy and generalized.  Our minds seem to have a forgetting factor.  In the Cimetiere Montparnasse, in a corner, in the shadow of a tall building, in the sunshine there is a sculpture by the famous Brancusi – “The Kiss”, carved in sandstone, it will weather over the years, but the sculpture itself is really devoid of detail, almost like the artist wants us to realize that the memory of a kiss will start to fade, and the details of the faces also, but we really remember is the fact of a kiss, and the fact that we loved that person, buried there in the ground below.  In life, a kiss can be the most amazing event, since it heralds in itself hope for the future – and so the sculpture for me at least recognises how close and affectionate it might have been, but the details have faded from memory.

There is joy in walking though that cimetiere in Paris.  Particularly when the sun is shining.  There are always flowers, it is always peaceful, and the sculpture that is placed there is imaginative and thoughtful.

We can remember them, the people and who went before, and be thankful that they at least had an artist create for their memory something that said something more evocative than just mere words.

Note:

Really inspired to write this blog entry today,  on the death of the son of friends of ours. His name Daniel.  We knew him as a child, and saw him grow up, but his life ended tragically in difficult circumstances.

Postscript: This blog entry updated.  A memorial service is to be held.  The matter is closed for now.