Thanks to The Weeklings for publishing my essay, Muffingate, and to The Good Men Project for reposting it here.
It’s another one from the Meanwhile manuscript. Others appear here and here.
*
Here’s the part where I liberally quote from Dear Abby:
Abby of Dear Abby presented some readers’ write-ins about graveyard etiquette. Was it okay for people to walk dogs in a graveyard? For kids to play there while nearby people mourned?
“I find it disgusting and disturbing that these folks are using our sacred place for their personal pleasures,” said Jean of Massachusetts, making it sound as if her mourning was frequently disturbed by people having public sex atop nearby graves.
“Dear Abby,” said Jan of Sartell, MN. “Several years ago in a nearby church cemetery, a young couple and their 4-year-old were putting flowers on a relative’s grave. The child got a bit antsy and climbed on a headstone. The stone was loose and tipped over onto the child and killed him. No one should let children play in a cemetery.”
“Dear Abby,” said Alanson of New Jersey. “I want children to play on my grave.”
*
Here’s the part I made into a video:
Gather Round Children 