So, I saw a dead body the other day. On the highway, directly under an overpass. (Well, OK first I swore for about 45 minutes about the traffic getting to Norwalk, and then I saw a dead body and realized I should shut up about something as small as traffic.) The body was lying in the road, covered by a sheet, and surrounded by a ring of police cars and officers looking solemn, facing out, heads bowed, not joking or even interacting. The thing about seeing a dead body is, it shakes you up. It makes you realize how fragile these meat suits really are.
It also made me think about how we treat the dead. Now I don't know anything about what led that poor, sad, sick, person to throw herself off the overpass (which, not for nothing has had at least 4 other people commit or attempt suicide there since 1998, maybe you want to think about putting up a FENCE, Connecticut??????), but my guess is that the police officers and the people driving by the scene both were treating that body with more care and reverence than they ever would have while there was a live human (female, Hispanic, 20-40, hairbands on her wrist, one blue, one green, as of yet unidentified) in it.
Imagine a world where we treat people like we treat the dead. Where all of us humans treat other humans with reverence and care. What would it look like? No one would be hungry, to start. No one would lack for a winter coat. Sick people would be taken care of. We wouldn't shoot or harm each other. Just think about it for a moment. And maybe wonder, like I did, why? Why do we act like remains are sacred, but not people? And what do we do to change?
