I'm home now.
What a trip!
So good to be with people who get it!
For those who couldn't make it I will describe the scene some. The front of the building has all kinds of energy in it. Of course Ferguson is a business. They sell plumbing supplies and lighting fixtures, so the front of the building actually looks quite warm and inviting, that is, as commercial buildings in the middle of Babylon go. The grounds out front are all nicely landscaped and the grass is all lush and green, but as you turn the corner toward the back parking lot, which I sorta think of as the last stop before the gates to hell, a post-apocalyptic scene unfolds. The contrast is quite stark. The gravel is still there. Hardly anything is alive. It is like an abandoned lot. I mean the whole area around it is all developed with commercial bussinesses but no one wants that back parking lot. The only thing growing there is some hearty scrubgrass, all yellow and dry and sparse. That side of the building looks as though it has been totally ignored for years or maybe decades. The mortar between the bricks is all falling out and vines are growng up the walls. Ol' pieces of rusting metal litter the grounds. The same ol' pine trees border the lot.
We chose to have our memorial service right in the middle of the back parking lot. Seemed appropriate, and despite the wave of nausia that I think came over just about everyone who showed up, we were in the right place. A canopy was set up. Under the canopy an altar was created out of 2 blanketed, folding card tables. One blanket was black canvass(a piece of this black canvass is the mourning flag flying) and the other was from Tajikistan. Then white flowers and white candles and incense and sage were spread on the altar. A circle of about 40 candle lanterns defined the outer boundary of the space we held. These lanterns were all lit as the ceremony began. There was a bell made out of an ol' nitrious tank that had been cut in half hangin' behind the altar and as the bell was slowly rung another candle was lit until the circle was complete. Poetry was read. Offerrings were made. There was about a 10 minute silence at one point, as the candles on the flowered altar danced and flicked their light... M.I.s were burned. People were free to speak their minds and they did. The past was unleashed and things that had been left in darkness were brought to us....and by that I mean that there was a sense of righteousness and validation...
...of dignified respect.
After all the offerings were made and words spoken there was a toast to the fallen and the wounded. Plastic cups were passed out and people were given a choice of Champaigne, Jamesons Irish Whiskey or Soda. It was a long toast, I can't remember it all now, but it was righteous, I know that.
All in all it was a triumphant memorial. The cops even showed up at the end, just as we were all gettin' ready to cut out 'a' there...I didn't get near 'em but I think some survivor who had parked near where the cops had pulled up, talked to them and they left. None the less we got out of their in a hurry after that!
I just want the people who couldn't make it for whatever reason but who wanted to be there to have some idea of what went on.
Oh...and the peeing on the building an' stuff too.... :rofl:
