The Columbia, Nationality and Religion

[heidi]

I don't know why this bugged me, but it did.

This picture was on the front page of The Miami Herald yesterday morning. A cross, marking the place where they found remains of one of the Columbia crew, and flowers placed at its base.

Why a cross, when there's a 2 in 7 likelihood that the person whose remains were there was not a Christian? Ramon was Jewish, and as I understand it (Madhuri can correct me, I'm sure) Chawla was Hindu.

While I certainly respect the dedication of the searchers, who spent their time searching for something to be able to bring to the families of those killed, I can't help but find their mode of marking, well, problematic. I won't say offensive, because I am sure it wasn't done with any negative feelings, but possibly simply out of ignorance.

I've gone to churches before - I've gone to Catholic and Protestant-denomination funerals - but the marker where a Jewish man lays - or has laid - should not be designated with a cross.

It contrasted sharply in my mind this morning with the fact that NASA has made a concerted effort not to drape any of the coffins bearing remains with the US flag alone, as Ramon was an Israeli citizen. They, at this point, don't know whose remains are in those coffins, and the consideration shown is remarkable.

I just hope that even though the original intentions may have been good, if it's learned that Ramon's or Chawla's remains were at that location marked with the cross, that the cross is removed and replaced with something more appropriate.

Comments

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I'm curious, what would you have put up in the interim until you knew who was there?
A post. A simple, single-column post - again, with the flowers along the bottom.

Re:

[nut-shell.livejournal.com]

You're right. That would work nicely.

Also, I was thinking...We're talking about extreme rural East Texas and Louisiana. I imagine a lot of the people who are volunteering to help have a very narrow frame of reference.

[ghettocheese.livejournal.com]

Dear damn skippy, I live maybe an hour or two away from parts where the space shuttle landed. Now I'm sorry people from this area are complete idiots who believe in God and have found themselves in the middle of a major tragedy. I think we should be proud of the people who are helping those in charge and not bitch that they put a cross by where remains were found. If anything, this cross should be taken as a symbol of respect and not as a symbol of ignorance. At least they are honoring the astronauts in what was perhaps the best way they could think of. No offense was meant. I don't see the cause for uproar or to even get the slightest bit upset about it. I've always thought the cross was this universal symbol for peace and remembrance, but maybe that's just my viewpoint as a guy with a very narrow frame of reference. Excuse me while I go cut my mullet.

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

No offense was meant. I don't see the cause for uproar or to even get the slightest bit upset about it. I've always thought the cross was this universal symbol for peace and remembrance, but maybe that's just my viewpoint as a guy with a very narrow frame of reference.
Rex, you're a teenager. You have an inherently narrower frame of experience, if not reference, than a grownup. Period.

A cross is not the universal symbol for peace & remembrance - it is the Christian symbol for peace and remembrance, and a few other things besides.

But I'm sure, as you say, a lot of people presume otherwise, because they don't have much experience with other religions. There was a case a few years ago involving a city seal that a resident designed, incorporating some of the flag, George Washington, their city's founder, and the little Fish symbol that a lot of people put on cars and stuff.

The designer said that she thought the fishie was a universal symbol of peace; it's not. It's a Christian symbol that is shorthand for Jesus Christ. She *did not know* and she included it, not of malice, but in ignorance.

I *know* they put the cross there as a symbol of respect, but as it seems clear that Ramon's remains *were* there, I think that if it's still there now, it should be replaced with something more fitting.