PonderingThings
Former member
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- Dec 17, 2005
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Trying2ID your post was very well said!
Another perspective?
Back in the early 70s there was a body that local law enforcement was trying to identify. It was a traffic accident. The man who died was not a transient, but had no identification.
I was a kid, and since everyone was talking about this news I asked my mom why someone wouldn't come forward to claim him... was he alone in the world?
My mom explained to me that it could be that he was alone in the world, or that the family didn't live in the city, or it could be that the family didn't have enough money to pay for a funeral. My reaction was
about that. She explained to me that there was assistance available to pay for a funeral, if a family couldn't afford it, but not everyone knew about it, or for various reasons would not take it. They knew that the government would bury their loved ones and just the knowledge that they died was enough for them.
I can remember this conversation with a great deal of clarity. My mom was a very wise woman. I don't think that is the case with all the John and Jane Does out there, but for some, even ones who die in tragic accidents, there may be a reason why someone has not come forward to identify them.
Perhaps if more people knew that their loved ones bones were sitting in cardboard boxes, instead of being at rest in a pauper's grave, they would somehow supply the information? All it would take is an anonymous letter or phone call.
By the way I went on with my life and have no idea if they ever did identify the man. My mother's explanation has stayed with me ever since though.
Another perspective?
Back in the early 70s there was a body that local law enforcement was trying to identify. It was a traffic accident. The man who died was not a transient, but had no identification.
I was a kid, and since everyone was talking about this news I asked my mom why someone wouldn't come forward to claim him... was he alone in the world?
My mom explained to me that it could be that he was alone in the world, or that the family didn't live in the city, or it could be that the family didn't have enough money to pay for a funeral. My reaction was
I can remember this conversation with a great deal of clarity. My mom was a very wise woman. I don't think that is the case with all the John and Jane Does out there, but for some, even ones who die in tragic accidents, there may be a reason why someone has not come forward to identify them.
Perhaps if more people knew that their loved ones bones were sitting in cardboard boxes, instead of being at rest in a pauper's grave, they would somehow supply the information? All it would take is an anonymous letter or phone call.
By the way I went on with my life and have no idea if they ever did identify the man. My mother's explanation has stayed with me ever since though.