It's not your birthday because you're dead

More than a year ago, a lady slid off the road into a tree and died in a bad car accident.

Every day when I drive from work I have to drive past a shrine to her. It is dilapidated, water-logged and neglected. But somebody has dropped off a "Happy Birthday" balloon and refreshed the flowers.

It isn't her birthday, because she is dead. Don't get me wrong, it is terrible that she died, but it was more than a year ago. I don't understand the human compunction to memorialize our traffic accident victims with makeshift shrines on the side of the road.

I want to make something clear to everyone: If I die in a car accident, please don't erect a shrine to me on the side of the road. By all means, lay some flowers down, but don't build a shrine.

I have never lost anyone close to me in a traffic accident, so I guess I can't pretend to understand what these people go through. However, it is not safe to have these shrines, as motorists are distracted by them. And eventually, they become dilapidated and waterlogged.

Call me an ass, but that is just what I think.