My Own Happiness Project

My Own Happiness Project
because happiness begins inside and flows out...

20080116

the one about death and legacy, again...

It probably isn't the healthiest thing to do, but I've started this year with pretty morbid reflections, like how life is so short and all... Today at work I had yet another chance to think about how short life can be...

We organised a course for the local undertakers in handling of bodies with infectious diseases (which in this case, HIV) and we had a chance to do a short practical at the hospital morgue. We of course did not use a real HIV body (it is a policy to have as few people as possible in handling infectious cases) so we asked for a young fresh body.

The guy who post-humusly sacrificed his body for the benefit of others, was a 25 years old chap, apparently died of a congestive cardiac failure, with no known heart disease prior to his death. He is also an illegal immigrant, waiting to be deported back to his country, and so happened that he had to die while in detention.

Is his family waiting for him to come back? Does he have a family at all? Since his was one of the unclaimed bodies, there probably isn't much chance of him having a proper funeral. He may have people missing him, but none of his friends and families will know he's gone for good.

We know his name from the records, but what was he like when he was alive? What was his temperament? What was he good at? What is his favourite food? Did he like jazz? What is his legacy? Did he leave any?

Well, at least he contributed something today.

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