Discuss: Of Blood and Bone

I just want to thank you. I found this article very comforting. I remember blood and bone things and sometimes in the city world I feel like I’m the only one that knows such things existed and sometimes do exist still in some place. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one that remembers.
Thank you again.

Thanks for such a well-written, memorable, and effectively concise essay! Taking a familiar theme, it makes it new and individual.

As a child many years ago, I lived on a small dairy farm off a meandering dirt road in rural northwest Missouri.  Reading your article brought such deep feelings of connection to that time and place…I too remember.

Living in Ireland where death is regarded as a friendly door opening onto a new journey and a normal extension of life, I sympathize with RR. When I go home (to the US)I see so many who either DON’T remember or never thought of it this way.  Thank you for this poignant and moving reminder.

Thank you for your kind comments. I’m glad the piece helps you remember as well. I do believe these are things we should try hard to never forget.

My dad, brother, sister, and I went to Australia this past summer to return my mother’s ashes to the farm where she was raised. It was so comforting to touch the red earth and see the remains of the home where she was raised. I took home some of the rocks I found there, so I can touch them sometimes and remember. It is good to know that she is back in the place she loved, where she wanted to return to. I am glad to know that others have such a strong connection to their lands, too.

This aricle reminds me the root of my life.Life worth nothing and so should we not live in a world of chaos.For we will oneday live it and go to the grave

How true, that we live in a society that is so insulated from the physical reality of the natural world. We’re so dirt-phobic, afraid of animals, ignorant of plants and processes of nature, so unwilling to know about anything vaguely unpleasant, that we can turn aside and do nothing about the true horrors and brutalities being exerted, by ourselves or in our names, upon our brethren people and animals(out of sight, out of mind, and “if I don’t know about it, I don’t have to do anything). It seems that, in addition to living our own lives in touch with the earthly facts of life, writing so well about it may be the best we can do to alleviate the sad foolishness we as a society spend our time and energy on these days.