Watching 60 Minutes last night, the first story was a report from Haiti. The people who’ve responded to this disaster are steely eyed; considering the scale of devastation, the doctors wanted to only put their heads down and work.
One bit of the story, that a doctor wanted the reporter to see, was how dead bodies were being gathered with a bucket loader, and dumped into a truck that was being brought to a mass grave. Grizzly stuff.
It struck me then: would the people of the United States be able to stomach seeing piles of people, like garbage at dump, gathered up using construction equipment? It must be a tough job, having to drive that bucket loader around, picking up your countrymen.
It’s not like the Haitians and rescue workers want to treat human remains like this; because of public health concerns, there’s not much choice. They can’t leave rotting bodies in the open, and there aren’t people available to individually identify remains and burry them. For the sake of the health of the survivors, the diseased remains need to be disposed of.
What’s your thought? After a disaster like in Haiti, could you watch your neighbors being picket up and disposed of with construction equipment?