2120 Bury Inappropriate

Bad news in the cemetery business. At least if you're planning on erecting your tombstone of choice. Seems an Ohio cemetery plans to remove a monument shaped like Sponge Bob Square Pants from its grounds. They say it's inappropriate.

Which brings up a host of issues. Is there free speech protection for how one wants to commemorate one's loved one? Sure, the cemetery is private, but do the cemetery grounds enjoy any tax benefit or deferment? If so, and if they're the only place to get planted in town, I would think there would be grounds for a law suit.

The plot thickens. The grieving mother of the deceased had the monument put up at the grave of her daughter because the daughter really loved the character. The daughter was a 28-year-old Iraq War Veteran. She was buried with a Sponge Bob doll as well. 

As I said, the cemetery officials thought the headstone, with its depiction of the smiling character, wasn't quite proper. Who's “square” now? Cause, you know, death is so solemn. God forbid anyone should laugh at a funeral. Sending folks off to heaven, also known as paradise, should be a sad occasion, and mortuaries, mausoleums, and cemeteries should all invoke horror.

I wonder if Walt Disney has a Mickey Mouse character anywhere on his tombstone. Or Hanna or Barbera have Huckleberry Hound or Yogi Bear in a Jelly-Headstone Park? Why shouldn't something that has given so much pleasure and laughter be allowed to venerate the departed?

I agree, Sponge Bob is a little off the wall, but who am I to judge? If I was walking through a graveyard feeling sad and depressed, I'm guessing seeing such a thing may actually cheer me up. 

Maybe make me feel a little less grave.  

America, ya gotta love it.