No fireflies in cemeteries is a travesty (Journal Entry)

Ever since I was a child I have been buggin on cemeteries. At first, it was a playful thing. My father would take me to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings during my summer visits in the Bronx, and for some strange reason, there was always a cemetery nearby. The adults would attend the meetings, and the children would play in the cemetery. We would play hide-and-go-seek, among other games. My favorite part of the night always revolved around the fireflies.

As I’ve grown older, I still feel attached to cemeteries. I enjoy walking through the cemeteries paying special attention to the oldest graves and the ones that still have a fire burning for them. Sometimes I’ll find a very old grave that still has flowers around it as though after one-hundred-something years loved-ones are still in mourning.

But what burns me to the core is that cemeteries are wide open spaces. Spaces that have the potential to offer an abundance of food, water, shelter, and a place to raise young for a multitude of wildlife species.

However, when I walk through the cemeteries nowadays, I never see even one firefly. This is a seriously bad omen. Fireflies are an umbrella species of sorts. If you can attract fireflies into your garden you can attract a multitude of other species. The fact that there are no fireflies in the cemeteries is a travesty.