Fixing Graves

I used to love visiting graveyards. There was a peace and holy presence there that was different than any other place. Perhaps it was the accumulated prayers of so many visitors. Who knows.

I was in a graveyard once that had a wall surrounding one of the graves. It turned out that this wall was left in place to remind people of the prejudice and hatred of African-Americans during the civil war. This grave was dug in secret and filled with the body of an African American child whose parents simply wanted their boy to be buried in consecrated earth. At the time there was not consecrated or blessed cemetery for African Americans.

When the members of the community found out, they built a wall around the grave so no one would be able to see the gravestone or be reminded of that boy.

Later, several decades later, the wall around the grave was torn down on two sides so that the gravestone could be seen. A plaque explaining the burial was affixed to the wall.

We think of fixing things as building them. But in this case, fixing meant tearing down the wall. Injustices should not be allowed to stand!