Ayn Rand Grave

[falmeida777]

Thanks for sharing this!

[ridaderek]

I shed a tear watching this video, knowing that even a person as great as Ayn, cannot live forever. But then realized that she will through her ideas.

[BiggerThinking1]

@ridaderek memes are greater than genes

[nosajj12345]

No final words or inscription on her tombstone??

I find that kind of ironic when you consider that people, with absolutely nothing worthwhile to say, will almost always have clever or witty or even eloquent phrases on their headstones. Perhaps this was her way of saying "I've said what I needed to say."

[TyphoidBryan]

@nosajj12345 You are correct. ..and as Miss Rand would probably say, "My work has spoken for itself."

In fact, a completely simple, non-embelished tombstone paired with her husband's of the same quality is about as appropriate as it should ever be for such a person of her brand of integrity. The lesser writer, philosopher would require a long epitaph or inscription to "remind" people of what they had accomplished in life. Someday, I'd like to visit her grave to simply say "thank you."

[soik90]

@nosajj12345 I think "I've said what I needed to say" would be a great phrase to have on her tombstone.

[IanHunedoara8]

Viktor Frankl. Elie Wiesel and Ayn Rand shared a common bond in trying to describe human values in the immediate postwar atmosphere of a world gone mad.

[robichard]

Rugged individualism built America into the greatest country the world has ever seen. Liberalism, and now Socialism, is about to utterly destroy this great country. Ayn Rand was right.

[veronicanbetty69]

Brilliant brilliant woman!!!!!

[Kalvin40]

I will go visit her grave one day. Thanks to her I managed to pay a couple of classes at my community college. While reading Atlas Shrugged at the end of the year I reflected on all the money I had been granted on scholarships and the people who had "given" money for scholarships. I thought on how giving is not approved and I decided to thank the Scholarship sponsors for having given me some money, as a result they awarded me another scholarship for having thanked them.

[treypol]

She is brilliant.

[joesmoe71]

I both wish she was still with us and glad she's not around to see this.

[sleedolfine15]

@joesmoe71 She would've said," I told you so."

[thedrunkpianist]

I'm currently reading Atlas Shrugged and I love it! It has me drawn in.

[erg0456]

A bit ironic that she is buried in "Valhalla" when she was a devoted athiest. Her works was exemplary. Some of the best literature I ever read. Her ideas on free will and independence were inspirational. The notion of being John Galt is now taking hold.

[DGMaxed]

It's a HUGE cemetery (my grandparents are also buried there, so I know!), so does anyone know where Rand's grave is?

Was just there today and looked at every grave as we drove around and couldn't find it. :(

[JohnIGalt]

April 15 105AR

On the occasion of your 81st wedding anniversary,

Congratulations Frank and Ayn Rand O'Connor.

Still together after all these years.

[notbestfriends]

I attended a lecture she gave at the Ford Hall Forum in Boston in the early 70's.

She was brilliant!

[bma051000]

Whether you love her or hate her, Ayn did what few writers have ever tried to do: to present the image of a man as a heroic being. And that is what she was: a hero.

[Luckyladies100021]

RIP Ayn Rand

[AvgasStew]

I love how simple it is.

[ddahwan]

A is A. Ayn is Ayn.

[dazulzul]

Muy bueno

[mariatim2000]

Interesting to note that a great greek writter Nikos Kazantzakis was also an atheist. In his grave you will find the words:"I don't believe,I am not afraid,I am free". Even today there is a mystery if he was buried after the priest read for him the prayer. I wonder if the church read a prayer for Rand.

[Se7enElement]

the whole place would catch on fire

[weav8060]

konsico cemetery sounds like a lovely place to visit, if you enjoy such things. Sergei Rachmaninoff and Danny Kaye are buried nearby, as well as hundreds of other notables.  Perhaps she and her husband chose it because of its connection with the Actors Fund, Vaudeville, etc.

[garbleduser]

I can't help but cry to think she is gone. Don't ever let modern politics get in the way of her philosophy!

[simplybornhuman]

i wish. I wonder what a nation ruled solely by her writings would be like. yes, she said that it's not called ayn-randism, but rather objectivesm, either or, it would be a rather interesting thing to see in it's true sense.

[xburningheavensx]

Few people have grasped the immense creative power that unbridled capitalism has the power to unleash like Marx. A society obeying objectivist epistemology would essentially consist of uncurtailed capitalism and creativity and said society would doubtless be the most advanced and powerful in the world.

[bencruzsf]

She has been a great influence to me with her ideas of self-esteem and creativity. However, one must never lose sight of the fact that she was human and did not really live her life within the dictates of what she espoused. What I also find is that she never gave thought to the subconscious, which does not deal with faith but with something that is part of all of us.

[goldbeddie]

A brilliant, brave woman. While reading her books I stop in amazement that English was her 2nd language.

Dean

[bradmanthethird]

it was american though, she loved america. as soon as she came there (and before) she made herself like a total information sponge, much like hitchens, although english IS his first language...

[billyguns2]

It amazes me how so many people can misunderstand what she said and for what she stood; I take comfort in the fact that her ATLAS SHRUGGED is the second most read book of all time, only surpassed by THE BIBLE.

[Darkside007]

Well, billy, you must remember two very important things:

1. People buy multiple copies of the Bible without reading it even once, but most people who buy Atlas Shrugged only buy the one copy.

2. The Bible had a 1960 year headstart

[uncleavi2002]

@Darkside007 Well said!

[Bigturns33]

Smartest woman to walk the earth.

[vintijsounds]

yes

[Urmakinguslookbad]

Objectivisim! Thank you, my whole point veiw perspective changed after delving in her marvelous work.

[Urmakinguslookbad]

Objectivisim, ya gotta love it. I believe in me.

[BloodyBlade45]

After reading just about everything that she ever wrote, I am proud to say that she has changed my life. I'm not one to visit graves, but I just had to pay my respects to Ayn. After 300 miles and 4 hrs, I was at this very spot. It was a very emotional thing for me, and anyone who appreciated her works as much as I did should give this place a visit. Avalon has the feel of a sanctuary, and Rand's grave makes it feel almost holy. (in the atheistic sense of the word, of course) You are missed, Ayn.

[Ksabrs45]

Well put my friend. I made the same trip and I totally agree with your estimation of the experience. I fell to my knees and cried tears of joy. Joy that she existed and that I existed to be conscious of her achievements.

Be ware: its a difficult walk from the Valhalla train station up to the cemetery...an emergency services truck picked me up on the way back to the train station because the high way shoulder was getting too thin to walk on...

[Sam26100]

Thanks for posting this. Even though the grave is unimportant compared to her ideas, still is nice to see a video of it because I am not likeley to ever visit it in person.

[proplib]

Thanks for posting this. AR had a definitive influence on my thinking and my life through her novels and writing.

[mathiastheok]

The potential exists for another "Ayn Rand" to be among us in our lifetimes. I should consider myself lucky to know of such a person and learn from them as I have learned from Ayn.

[Jazzper79]

Thanks,

[TheBigHo111]

*****

[Fight4freedom311]

Such a wonderful person she was!

[jinjin16]

I love my life and I am grateful that Ayn Rand had given me the words to define why I love my life. Her words has an exact meaning. A is A.

[tomdownes1]

Bravo, nice sentiments. :-)

[Isabella8466]

She fit the time in which she lived, Modernism. Several current books that place her in appropriate context, as a writer of this period.

[Jazzper79]

Ayn Rand understood how life should be lived, period!

It is wonderful that such a person has lived and changed my life to the best, because I do not know what would have happend if that philosophy never had been told explicitly to anyone. I know she has inspired a lot of great writers, who´s books I have read also.

Jesper 29, Denmark

[Zerofire18]

She is one of my favorite people as well as Viktor Frankl.

[zardozcs]

Hey, didn't you lay some flowers on the grave? That would have been nice to include in the video.

[okyesplease]

What purpose is there in such altruistic claptrap?

[AshillaBeige]

Oh please. You sound so religious, it's laughable.

It's a gesture to show respect for someone who's admired. If he put flowers on the grave of someone he didn't care for at all, then you'd have a case.

There were flowers at Rand's grave (a piece shaped into a dollar sign). Would you say her closest friends and admirers were guilty of an instance of "altruistic clap trap?".

Honouring your hero and her memory isn't exactly altruistic.

[andrewlane4]

I wonder, who decided on just the name and dates? Surely, Ayn would have wanted a simple statement of some kind on her marker.

Something, to get one to think.

[zardozcs]

Apparently she wanted the one word 'Rational' on her tombstone as a description of her. I wonder why it's not there.

tinyurl 6ba3am at 36:37 into the recording.

[RodCornholio]

"I lived by Reason. Now you."

[gottalivefree]

A true genius! She make sense.

[SatanicCod]

*She make sense*

This is, I do believe, the greatest mark of respect one's can give to Ayn Rand.

[sumfamousperson17]

I'd love to visit her grave some day. Thank you for uploading.

[chopsky]

The greatest human to have ever lived.

[rbilkie]

Je t'approve

[happymyster]

that's a little extreme

[SatanicCod]

I approve.

[TheAtheistChrist]

I miss you Ayn Rand!

[yorkygb]

Thanks so much for posting. I would love to pay my respects one day. Having discovered her work after her death, I have gotten to know her through her books, non-fiction and fiction. After having her work change my life, I have grieved her passing. An instrumental figure in the history of man, time will test her ideas, history will reward her.

[theluscioussound]

Thank you. Withalll seriousness.

[Budguy68]

Ayn Rand has got to be the mother of Capitalism.

Be good to others they all say. No one ever says to be good to yourself.

[uppitybug]

Oh yes they do. There is that song by Journey...it's actually called "BE GOOD TO YOURSELF". Life should never be characterized as a melodramatic dichotomy. Such characterizations are mere hyperbole. It REALLY IS POSSIBLE to be good to yourself as well as to others. Often simultaneously! REALLY!(GASP) Anyone with a brain who can step away from the mirror and stop the petulant self pity routine for 5 seconds functions perfectly well under this social/psychological reality.Nice headstone.

[stemborowski]

i always wanted to know were she was buried, thank you!

[Atlantist]

Frankness is next to Selffulness

A $ A

[wsmith68]

Rachmaninov is buried in the same cemetary. Two great Russian artists.

[marneedear]

Thank you for this.

[Wiltothemax]

I think it was horrible what Ayn Rand did to her husband (She had an affair WITH his permission... shows he was an easily dominated man) but no one person could ever possibly deny that she was one of the greatest authors of all time.

[Merryjest]

Ever thought that maybe if he gave her permission... that he was ok with it? Geez, you love the victim mentality, eh?

[Manx123]

I would not call her the one of the greatest authors of all time, at I would think it to be a stretch to call her one of the greatest authors of the last century. Still, the Fountainhead and Atlas shrugged are probably the most relevant books to this day.

[johnnyk2112]

Ayn might have had the greatest mind and greatest ideas of the last century. While Atlas Shrugged and the Fountainhead present her great ideas, they are not necessarily great literature.

[Spikedeheld]

First thing I hear about it, and I'm not convinced easily by youtube comments soooo.. where did you get this info about her having an affair? reply, pm, don't care but respond

[suziescott2007]

@Spikedeheld its in the book "The Passion of Ayn Rand" by Barbra Brandon.

[pitbull103]

@Spikedeheld It is true that Ayn had an affair with Nathaniel Branden, with the knowledge and consent of her husband. It is detailed in "The Passion of Ayn Rand" and in Nathaniel Branden's autiobiography.

The whole thing was unfortunate and ultimately led to a schism between Branden and Rand that ended objectivism as an official "movement." In some ways, that was a good thing. A philosophy based on individualism is a difficult thing to organize around a group or leader. Be well.

[vtrestrail]

thanx so much.

[tesarlts]

Thanks for posting

[qtronman]

God bless you Miss Rand.

[tsummerlee]

Wow. I'm surprised there wasn't anything left on the grave or stones. People probably leave all kinds of things, but I'm sure they're removed.

And the stones are so simple! That's really shocking to me. No epithet, either, and that really surprizes me.

Probably the closest I'll ever get to this great lady. Thanks so much for posting this.

[Daghita]

Thank you for sharing the video!

[Inaissance]

...aMen...

[Manx123]

I see what you did there.