Friday, March 29, 2019

Lent: Be

This rock is part of a memorial near where I have my social work internship.

The memorial obviously is important to the borough, in how it honors a group of veterans The face of the rock anchors the plaque that explains the memorial's purpose.That's important, but it's not what the rock does that gives it its value, it's what the rock is.

The rock is large. It's solid. It's heavy. It's smooth. The rock is common, and not easily moved. Replace any of these intrinsic qualities of the rock -- replace it with a different rock-- and its value is gone. A larger rock would overwhelm the memorial, while a smaller rock would let the memorial be overshadowed by the very grass. A different sort of rock could be too fragile, too uneven to hold a plaque, too costly or too easy a target for vandals.

The rock doesn't have to do anything to make this memorial. It just is what it is, and that's all it needs to be.


Copyright © 2019 by David Learn. Used with permission.




No comments: