Posted on 12/07/2011 11:42:24 AM PST by BenLurkin
The remains of hundreds of Los Angeles County residents whose bodies were never claimed by family or friends were buried in a mass grave Wednesday.
This holiday season many of us are reminded how fortunate we are to be surrounded by our loved ones, Supervisor Don Knabe said Tuesday, when he and his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors observed a moment of silence for the people being buried. Sadly, not everyone shares this blessing.
He said the 1,639 people designated for the mass interment at the Los Angeles County Crematory and Cemetery are individuals that, for one reason or another, have no one but the county to provide them with a respectful and dignified burial.
Knabe described some of the deceased as homeless or poor, many of whom with no families to grieve for them.
Regardless of what their status in life was, each one of their lives matters, he said. It matters to us, their county family.
True enough. I have a nephew who is schizophrenic - it took forever to get him into a treatment program, and to date he’s been reasonably successful in his battle. But I know the time will come when he slips into whatever void waits and the thread that connects him with the family now will be broken.
Years ago I was always the first one to the office, and as such, it was my task to shoo the men that would sleep in the alcove away before other workers or customers got there. I got to know them a bit, and although some of them were nuts, they never game me any grief by pooping on the doorstep or trying to break in or vandalize. As long as they weren’t doing any harm, I never saw a good reason to not let them find a place out of the rain. Frankly, with them around it may have kept someone else from trying to break in. Anyway, one morning I got there, and as I was telling this one poor old fellow who’d obviously been living rough a long time that he had to move on for the day, he said in his near waking state, “Dad? OK, dad. Don’t worry, I won’t be late for school.” It was a profoundly depressing moment...
Oh, Lord, how sad that is!
Considering this is Los Angeles, I'd pay dollars to donuts that the vast majority were illegals. Some probably died from O.D. or knife fights, but most of them were likely elderly and brought over by their immigrant adult children and dumped in the hospital and abandoned for the tax payer to subsidize.
It's tragic that anyone would die alone and even their remains unclaimed, but that's in our culture. In others, it appears, not so much.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.