One finds throughout the United States roadside shrines like this one, typically memorializing a life ended in trauma at that very spot on the highway. It powerfully impacts the unsuspecting foot-traveler. Similarly I have noticed a few cities have embedded metal plaques in their sidewalks, designed to call a pedestrian’s attention to the precise location of a forcible rape, showing date and time the crime was committed and listing the age of the victim. These reminders point you back in time toward tragic events; they sober the mind and perhaps quicken the conscience.

Elevated above our disheveled, colorful but melancholy memorial, you will find the rock forms pictured next. Contemporary humans have appropriated these monumental stones for worship and remembrance. Their markings focus on basic concerns: love, death, and the hope of personal redemption.