Temple of Time
10Today the Temple of Time, a memorial for the lost students at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, FL was set ablaze. It is to honor the 17 lost lives due to the shooting. It also honored the suicide victims.
Here are some photos before, and during the fire.
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That was a beautiful temple.
I hope that community keeps their closeness and mutual support, and their capacity to act publicly for their community and for similar communities.
I understand the concept, but that was some amazing work. I’d think an everlasting memorial would be even more meaningful.
@cinoclav
I’m glad they did this. It looks participatory.
@cinoclav it’s a monument to help heal by letting everything go. Here’s more info:
https://www.bocamag.com/temple-of-time-parkland-tribute-burn/
@cinoclav @RiotDemon Thank you for the link with the explanation. I originally thought it was vandalism.
Humanity has associated fire with healing for eons. Burning something in effigy can help you release pain, sometimes. While I understand a permanent memorial would be more to the preferences of some, from looking at pictures of the event, the people closest impacted by this wanted it. And therefore, what can I as an outside voice say but “I’m glad it helped.”
@cinoclav I came here to say this. Seemed like a lot of work went into the intricate detail work so I’m really surprised they’d ruin it.
@cinoclav @PooltoyWolf Think of it less as ruining and more of a tribute.
Let me try to give another example - whenever I visit my grandfather’s grave, I leave a Matchbox or Hot Wheels car. A non-crazy one, one that is a realistic car. Sometimes the cars will be there for months, sometimes they’re gone after a week. Am I littering?
My grandfather had this thing near then end of his life where he was obsessed with model cars. It resonates with me to ‘give’ him a model car when I visit. You could look at it as wasteful, but it’s my ‘flowers on the grave’. And doing that makes me feel better. I cannot completely elaborate why; it just does.
Perhaps someone would say I’m ‘ruining’ the car, because it can’t be played with any more.
@cinoclav @Ozzie2191 @PooltoyWolf these rituals are for the living not the dead. They help us cope and if leaving a hot wheel makes you feel better, then why not. It helps you continue to feel that important connection.
@cinoclav @Ozzie2191 @tinamarie1974 Our family has done very similar things in the past and I feel it’s a widespread tradition to leave keepsakes or significant objects. I had just never seen a large structure sacrificed before. The builders must have gone in knowing the prime directive.
@cinoclav @Ozzie2191 @PooltoyWolf @tinamarie1974 the artist has been doing these for a while at music festivals. They usually get burned up in a few days/weeks. If you go back and look at the link I posted, the temple was very clean and fresh. The photos I took were days before it was burnt and the wood was very weathered.
@cinoclav @Ozzie2191 @RiotDemon @tinamarie1974 Huh, I gotcha. Kind of reminds me of Burning Man type stuff.