Salem is beautiful this time of year. Flowers are finally blooming even though spring is slow coming this year. The cherry blossoms around the capitol building were beautiful as well
The best picture is the one I could not take. The big news in Salem is the dismantling of the old state mental hospital. It was the setting for the 1975 film "one flew over the Cuckoo's nest" If the building was infamous then, it is even more stark, dark and ugly now. So we went there to see the destruction and get a historic picture. There were a couple of pictures alongside an article in the paper that morning.
As I was about to take a picture a security guard stopped me and said picture taking of this old building was not permitted. I asked why, especially since the paper had published theirs. He replied, "they must have gotten permission."
So after pondering the reasoning for this, the only conclusion I could come up with was that Oregon is ashamed of its past treatment of the mentally ill. That's not unlike you and I when contemplating our past. We don't relish having our sins recorded for history. I am so grateful on this Holy Week that because Christ offered his life for my sins on that Good Friday long ago, there is no record anywhere of those sins, past present or future. "My sin-not in part-but the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord-OH MY SOUL"
I have the paper with the pictures and could have scanned them and put them here. But in deference, enjoy the pretty ones.
