Stop Building Walls

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You may think you’ve read this in an earlier blog but read again. It’s not just a love story.  

In 1785, the Dutch city of Roermond created a new burial ground around a smaller pre-existing Jewish cemetery. High walls separated Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish sections, with an un-consecrated area for the areligious and criminals.

In 1870, they further segregated by class. The wealthiest had elaborate vaults and mausoleums, the poorest were relegated to unmarked graves.

In 1842, Josephina, a noblewoman, fell in love with Colonel Jacobus of the Dutch cavalry, a commoner. Their marriage was scandalous because of their class differences and because she was Catholic, and he was Protestant.

Love kept them together for forty years, but prejudice labored mightily to separate them in death. He couldn’t be buried in her Catholic family plot, so she buried him on the edge of the Protestant section. Later, she arranged her enterrement in the adjacent Catholic plot with their matching memorials joining hands above the wall.

While this is a powerful love story about rising above the walls people build, the greater message is stop building walls. Segregated cemeteries suggest prejudice, elitism, and bigotry are sanctioned by God and continue into the next realm. Stop pretending a benevolent Creator cares where your physical remains are placed or that any earthly being has the right to segregate souls.

Stop! Just stop.