Cemetery

"The cemetery is a place of gentle quiet. At night, I can hear the whistle of distant trains. It's a lovely place." This is what Jarod Anderson mentioned in his memoir. 

Many famous poets and writers, as what Jarod Anderson did, lived close to cemetery. Examples include Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

Maybe the cemeteries are unwelcome four-letter word or taboo in our society, but I'd suggest it's time we rethink how unique and peaceful the cemetery can be. Before we become comfortable with cemetery, we have to make peace with death. All lives end. We learn from Mitch Albom's Tuesdays with Morrie that "once you learn how to die, you learn how to live."

In case you haven't visited a cemetery for quite some time, find time to go. Take a moment to walk around. More than twenty years ago, I had to fly to Edinburgh for a professional examination. Unfortunately, I couldn't beat the jet lag to study when I arrived the day before examination. To outfox the anxiety and attain true inner freedom, I decided to take a walk around a cemetery close to my B&B. Thankfully, it worked.

I visited a cemetery this morning too, before another professional examination (as an examiner this time). The cemetery, with fine examples of baroque ecclesiastical art and a doll-sized mint-green church, is truly a source of peace.