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Comment by xvedejas | Hacker News Reader

I recently took a walk around Colma. The cemetaries were in fact the least creepy part of that town. Walkways leading nowhere covered in racially charged graffiti, lack of sidewalks along the roads, and sprawling parking lots occupied the area not reserved for the dead.

I walked past some sort of workshop that made tombstones. I took a picture of some tombstones on display outside, since they looked kind of cool. Some worker there started asking me: "Are you here to buy one? Then why the hell are you taking pictures of them?!" Not the most inviting place. The graveyards were nice though.

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> lack of sidewalks along the roads, and sprawling parking lots occupied the area not reserved for the dead.

Sounds like every suburban small town.

It seems like suburbs mean different things in different places. Most all of our roads, especially the main ones, have sidewalks.

> I walked past some sort of workshop that made tombstones. I took a picture of some tombstones on display outside, since they looked kind of cool. Some worker there started asking me: "Are you here to buy one? Then why the hell are you taking pictures of them?!"

I mean, I can see where they are coming from, that's kinda disrespectful to the dead. I wouldn't want you to take pictures of my recently passed away father's headstone just so you could put a cool filter on it, load it up with edgy hashtags and get likes on your instagram. :(

I think they were display headstones, outside the workshop that makes them.

... maybe. Maybe they were pre-orders waiting for customers to come pick them up. Who knows. Either way, still kinda tacky and in poor taste, imo. Grief shouldn't be a sideshow for kitchy photo-ops.

Maybe they were tombstones for dead teenagers who would have appreciated you taking a selfie with their tombstone, putting a cool filter on it, loading it up with edgy hashtags and getting likes on your instagram. Each generation has its own way that they want to be remembered. YOLO!

There were no names on those tombstones yet. That said I specifically went and took pictures of some "in-use" tombstones as well. Those were more interesting, some display a perspective of family history you don't normally see -- a perspective that focuses on the dead.

Keep in mind that tombstones are publically displayed. It's not like I broke into a mausoleum or something.

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