LETTERS: DON'T BOTHER ITEMS LEFT ON GRAVESITES

To the editor:

Last April, our son was tragically killed in an automobile accident, leaving us with unexplainable emptiness. Unless you have walked in our shoes, you really can't understand the grief we feel not being able to see him, touch him or hear his voice any longer.

In the past months since, our son's gravesite at Forest Hills Garden Cemetery between Morley, Mo., and Oran, Mo., has been stripped of floral sprays and various other items for reasons we do not understand. No one has been caught in the act but will be, I'm sure, in time. When he or she is caught, what response will that person have to the family and friends when they have to explain why this was done?

Our son's gravesite is not the only gravesite where flower arrangements and other items have been removed. I'm sure that whoever is responsible is not stopping to think of how much he is hurting the ones who have been left on Earth to cope with the grief and loss of our loved ones. Then we go to those gravesites to find their final earthly resting places have been and continue to be stripped of items placed there on our last visitation.

We need a place to go in order to gain just a little comfort possibly by placing an item or just sitting quietly with our thoughts of all the wonderful earthly memories that God allowed us to experience through our past times together. It's never easy to place your loved one's remains in the ground and then go back and find his resting place is continually being stripped of the items placed in his memory.

This is a plea to all who think it might be funny or a practical joke or is being done with the intent of hurting family members and friends who still care and grieve from the loss of our loved one. It matters not what this person had done to you while he was on Earth. You cannot obtain revenge any longer. But by committing these acts of disrespect, you are hurting the ones left behind. I hope you will look deep inside of yourself and ask yourself: "Is this what I would want to happen to someone I loved so dearly?"

To those who are removing these items: Please stop and think before you take part in these acts. Tomorrow it might be you being placed in the ground. Is this what you would want your family and friends to experience when they come to your gravesite?

GENE EMERSON

Sikeston, Mo.