Although I am generally interested in the history of conflict and injustice, I made time in my tight schedule to visit this memorial as a sort-of pilgrimage after seeing it featured in the Ükskord Niikuinii song. When I was walking around, I saw the Estonian flag - I’m not sure if it was intentional or just coincidence.
PLACEHOLDER: Update after neuro-identity about justice
The sky, when cloudless and clear,
with the floor of the garden of remembrance,
below the stark darkness of the tunnel
bearing witness to the victims of terror,
forms the flag of the Estonian Republic
Google translation of the inscription (“ja langevad teele tuhanded. veel koju jõuavad tuhanded. ja viivad vaeva ja hoole. ja lendavad mesipu poole”) didn’t really seem right because the original uses poetic license; so I dabbled with it (hopefully successfully, using quite a bit of poetic license myself):
“By the wayside they will fall, by the thousand,
To yet complete their journey, also by the thousand,
Scarred by the wounds of great strife,
They will be welcomed home, like bees to their hive.”
Seeing the names of the victims inscribed in the memorial filled me with a sense of profound grief - the same grief I feel whenever I see evidence of violence - even if I did not know any of the victims personally.
I hope the acknowledgment served by this memorial helps everyone who seeks solace for this act of violence, and other acts of violence, find peace.