Appalling, Indeed

Dateline February 18, 2011
Reporting from Chicago, IL, USA

The Sheriff in Cook County, Illinois, is "appalled" at the way indigent burials are being handled by the cemetery that has been contracted to care for these remains.  "We collectively treat these people as if they are refuse.  we can't continue to do that."

Isn't it interesting that it's the treatment of the remains of these human beings that has garnered our attention today?  Why is it that we are "appalled" at how people are being buried on one hand but not completely outraged at why they were "indigent" to begin with?  Isn't it possible that their "indigence" is directly connected to their having become "remains?" 

How bad do things have to get before people notice and take action?

I'll tell you what's appalling.  What's appalling is a society that continues to marginalize PEOPLE, deprive them of support and services that would enable them to thrive (and thus benefit themselves and the whole of society) and then sweeps them into mass graves, referring to them not as "people who have died" but "indigent bodies."