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DR. OMED VISITS A ROADSIDE MEMORIAL
In recent years, I have observed numerous manifestations of a new folk custom on the highways and byways of Oklahoma. Little shrines memorializing people killed in a roadway accident are put up, presumably by the loved ones of the deceased, at or near the spot where the fatal accident occurred, sometimes on the very telephone pole or bridge abutment that brought someone’s life up short. I see these little memento mori quite frequently along the roadside. I don’t know whether or not this meme is regional or more widespread. These memorials are a bit creepy; also touching. It seems a strange thing to do, to construct one of these things, but people do strange things when they’re grieving. Most of them look pretty tacky as one zooms by at 60 or 70 mph.
I pass this one everyday on the way to work.
This one is a bit more elaborate.
It’s also a bit further back from the highway than is usual.
Note the hat hanging on the cross; a veteran?
A Saint Cristopher medal hangs on the cross as well; Catholic?
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