Memorial tributes on benches and urns: Ocean Grove Boardwalk. June 2015. Blogfinger photograph. ©
To The Editor:
I must tell the truth: I do not like the boardwalk urns. It doesn’t matter if the flowers are amazing or crummy. Those urns depress me. They should be carted off to the ash bins of history.
There could only be four reasons for the urns:
- They serve as memorials or shrines for the dead.
- They add beauty to the boardwalk.
- They are a tradition.
- They raise money for the CMA which puts memorial plaques on urns, light poles and benches.
My response is that the only beauty people really want to see on the boardwalk consists of the ocean, the beach, the sky, and happy people enjoying our beachfront. The urns add nothing to the existing scenery but clutter, and they bring back memories of what else besides the dead? Even the flowers, stuck in urns, are reminiscent of funerals and cemeteries.
If you want to have a shrine for a loved one, place it in your garden or your living room. Do not place it on the OG boardwalk which is a public thoroughfare on the beach. Even FEMA, using public funds, agreed that the boardwalk in Ocean Grove is a public place, and private memorial sentiments don’t belong there.
What kind of tradition is that anyhow? I have never seen mention of urns in OG history books. As a tradition, how many in OG feel nostalgic about the urns? Perhaps the CMA should remember to consider public sentiment, since this town is now largely secular in its culture.
It’s time for the urns to go. And while they are at it, they should remove all memorial plaques from benches, parks and light poles in town.
Jack B. Nimble.
Ocean Grove, NJ
June 22, 2015
THE EMBERS (suggested by Jack to represent happy thoughts on the boardwalk.)