Originally Posted by ptquilts
I will join you in getting tarred and feathered for this, bear, but why whenever there is a tragedy involving kids, people end up sticking stuffed animals on a chain link fence somewhere?
I always think, gee there are kids in foster care/hospitals who would like those stuffies...
I agree with you, sort of. I am not a stuffie lover, although I know many are and kids do love something soft to hang onto. I think all the candles, flowers, and stuffies at a site of tragedy goes back to our need to do something tangible
to express our grief. If a someone dies on the street in a particularly sad way we want to be able to express to the survivors that we are touched by their pain. Since we would not ordinarily ever meet or speak to them we leave something concrete to symbolize our sympathy. Hence, cards, flowers, candles, stuffies. We hope if the family sees a large display they will be comforted to know that their community shares the sadness of loss, or a survivor will see a common outreach for their recovery. It also I believe comforts the community members to come together in some sort of way to share the bewilderment and dismay that such a thing could happen. Like when there was the shooting in Arizona and the little girl and others died and so many were wounded. I felt a deep grief that we had such a world where things like that happen over and over, again it happened in Norway just a few weeks ago.
I guess it is the same rational that we use to leave flowers at a loved ones grave....we are hoping somehow our grief will be comforted at the thought that on some level somewhere the lost one will know and understand. I am not trying to belittle anyones need to reach out or their belief system just trying to understand the impulse. I guess giving a donation to the food bank in their name would not have the same communal healing effect.