Meaning and Motivation of my Cemetery Monument

First some important preliminaries: 

(1) I am presently very much alive, and have no notice that a change is imminent.


(2) This monument is [as has been my life] shared with my wife, and while we are contentedly married and agree on its unique feature, we are unique individuals; from this point on, I speak only for myself.




As a child on vacations to my mother’s “Granite State” New Hampshire home, I was intrigued by sometimes odd or enigmatic, barely legible epitaphs on (century-plus) old, weathered cemetery monuments. Who were these singular, vanished scribes? What was their meaning?

Later as an adolescent (maybe 14?) at Garrett’s public library, I discovered something even more enigmatic, intriguing, and profound: an epigraph in a book, the discovery of which ultimately changed my life:

He who knows does not speak. He who speaks does not know. (Lao-Tzu)

 While I could not fathom its meaning at the time, I never forgot its mystery, which ultimately guided me toward Taoism and Buddhism, and which I have embraced for ten years now, though tempered somewhat by my own existential perspective.

Which brings us to the here and now: what does the circle of letters signify?

It’s easy, really. Like everything, your answer depends on your perspective; your point of view. Just choose a beginning point, and start reading:

Where now?

Here now.

Now here.

Nowhere. 

What could be more apropos? Can anyone say more in this regard, using just seven letters?


In the meantime, how many people do you suppose write their own obituary? Does it feel important to you? Well it seems to be for me, so just in case my survivors or the newspapers don't quite get it right, here's the official version, subject to revision over whatever remaining years lie ahead:

Stephen Rowe age (?) died on (date?). Born in Washington DC’s Walter Reed Army Hospital to Charles and Gloria Rowe, he grew up in Garrett, Indiana and spent his last years near Fremont with Kathy Koons Rowe, his surviving wife since 1973. Additional survivors include siblings Lael Ice, Lynn Reed, and Judy Rowe, a son Aaron Rowe, and Aaron and Nikki Rowe’s six children.

Stephen won a National Merit Scholarship Commendation as a high school student in 1969, earned a PhD in mathematics from Indiana University in 1993, and worked as a statistician in Chicago before retiring to Steuben County.

Following retirement he turned to writing, describing himself as an existential Buddhist with interests in music, art, philosophy, nature, simplicity, and the impact of cyber-absorption on consciousness and spirit. These interests, reflected in his various "Cyber Tunnels," characteristically juxtapose graphics with synergistic and ironic text, and are often highly creative and sometimes quite eccentric, as was Stephen. The portal to much of this writing is StephenRowe.blogspot.com.

Beside the above, Stephen had a deep interest in and love for his home town of Garrett and its people. Preferred memorials are to the Garrett Public Library.

Finis