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There was never any questions but that Brandon's final resting place should be next to his father at Lakeview Cemetery in Seattle, Washington. Bruce Lee had been buried there 20 years earlier because Bruce loved his years in Seattle and had hoped someday that his family would have a home in the Pacific Northwest. Brandon had also lived in Seattle for a short time as a baby and for a year after his father's death. Some time after the initial shock of Brandon's death and burial had passed, the concern was to find a way to honor Brandon's life with a fitting grave marker. It seemed an impossible task. However, finally the answer was to let Brandon speak for himself. By understanding the significance of the shape of the sculpture and the words engraved thereon, a trip to the cemetery can become more meaningful to the many visitors from all over the world. A number of thoughts went in to planning the eternal marker. Through his reading and travelling, Brandon had nurtured a great interest in the philosophy of his Chinese heritage as well as being fascinated by Native American symbolism. Therefore a design was sought that would relate Brandon's life to the universal oneness of things. Then, because Brandon was on the cusp of entering into a state of great harmony with his fiancée[Eliza], their marriage was to take place a mere 17 days after his death - it was felt that his tombstone should reflect their happiness torn asunder by the cruel blow of his sudden death. In addition, Brandon had reached a stage in the development of his acting career where he was recognized for his own talent, independent of his famous father, and now it seemed doubly unfair that his life was so brutally snatched away. It was also felt that the stone should also reflect the pain of family and friends and serve as a reminder of the precious and precarious qualities of life. “From an aesthetic standpoint, it was decided that Brandon's headstone should be similar in mass and material to his father's, complementary and yet unique in design and message to represent Brandon's and Bruce's distinct personalities and separate achievements. There was a need to tie the two graves together not only visually and spiritually, but also to accommodate the thousands of visitors who desire to pay their respects and to use the area to contemplate the vicissitudes of life. The sculpture took more than two years from conception to installation. The result is a work of art that is both fulfilling to the eye and true to Brandon's spirit. The vertical headstone is a slightly twisted rectangle with a cleft in the middle symbolizing the cruel tearing apart of Brandon's beautiful life. The twist in the sculpture makes the top, from a bird's eye view, resemble an elongated yin/yang symbol reflecting the common thread with the symbol on the book on Bruce's grave. All of the edges are rounded and polished giving the feeling of fluidity, but the inside of the cleft is left raw and rough to symbolize the crude destructive power of death as well as the interdependency of life and death. Brandon's name is engraved on the vertical headstone in both English and Chinese. In tough translation his Chinese name means " Someone in the country who is better and stronger in military and martial aspects," or " Lee National Hero." It is pronounced Lee("Lay" in Cantonese) - Gwok (country) - Ho (Hero). This was the name his father gave to Brandon when he was born. On the horizontal base is engraved a passage from the book, the [i]Sheltering Sky[/i], by Paul Bowles. This passage was especially meaningful to Brandon as he had placed it on the front of his wedding invitation. Perhaps it indicated to him the ephemeral nature of human life and the fragility of happiness. Little did anyone know that as we were looking forward to the happy occasion of his marriage, this very quote would be so significant when placed on Brandon's gravestone. A grid work of small concrete squares with grass growing between them sets with the graves apart from the surrounding sites and helps to keep the area in good repair when many feet trample the area. At the foot of the graves a bench was placed to delineate the site visually and to make visitors more comfortable if they choose to spend some time at the cemetery. “On one side of the bench is an inscription from his sister Shannon and I that pays our eternal respect and keeps the family always together no-matter where the wings of fate may carry us “One the other side of the bench is a quote from Saint Augustine who lived in the sixth century: "The key to Immortality is fist living a life worth remembering." Fourteen centuries later, no words could better describe the lives of Bruce and Brandon Lee. [Transcribed by Samantha/BLM] |