a thoughtful web.
Good ideas and conversation. No ads, no tracking.   Login or Take a Tour!
comment
deiki  ·  4122 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: WW2 observation post on the Normandy coastline

    Hard to really fathom what happened there... until you go to the German and US cemetaries in the area and see the thousands of tombstones.

I was about 8 when my grandfather took me to the Los Angeles National Cemetery for the first time. While we were walking through the rows, I heard his voice catch and say something to the effect of "they left their chairs strewn behind them". Thisimmediately transfigured into something similar to this in my mind. In fact, when I saw that installation on tumblr, I was immediately hit strongly with that particular memory. I can't empathize the stark authoritative lines for some reason; chaos is more understandable, more relate-able.

For all I know, my grandpa was probably commenting on actual chairs left behind at someone's graveside and my defining turning point was accidental all along.