An unexpected sight

Gates to a Graveyard,
originally uploaded by BrisbaneBryce.

There are sights in a city that come upon me and take me by surprise. I was wandering along a street called Karanghape Road. I had just passed through a block party cum anti-global warming rally to a park when I looked across the street and noticed these gates. A small compound next to a park is guarded by two gates, each with Stars of David on them. Behind the gates, in the compound, is a Jewish cemetery. It's a highly urbanized, well developed neighborhood that clearly goes back some time. It's also across a bridge from a major hospital, and not too far from a couple of universities, and also about 500m from what seems to be Auckland's Auto Row.

And yet there, nestled next to a park at a major intersection, is a Jewish cemetery. I was grateful to be reminded of mortality, grateful to be reminded that here, in the midst of a Christian and Ma Ori nation, Jews had lived and died and left mementos of their passing.

I sat for a while under a shade tree and meditated on this. Crowds passed by, either blind or blase to the significance of these memorials.