In the Daily News today there was a story that was so strange that I couldn't help but acknowledge it. Turns out that a couple of guys in the New York area were robbing corpses from funeral homes and stealing their body parts to sell on the black market, where the allegedly made up to 5 million dollars. They are currently charged with 122 counts of body stealing, grand larceny, forgery, and other charges pretty much ensuring (now that Jonny Cochran is dead) that they'll be in jail for a long time.
Now here's where I might surprise you. Personally while these guys broke the law and of course should be punished, I personally don't see too much wrong with what they did. The charge of body stealing I think is pretty dammed draconian, and has too dammed much to do with ancient religious and cultural traditions to mean much any more. I think that when people die everyone's body parts should be put up for organ donation. You know why? Umm let's think about this one...because they're DEAD!
Now I feel a bit sad for the sister of one of the women whose body was plundered who said, "My sister made very formal wishes that she be cremated. She didn't want anybody to touch her body after her death, so I feel she was raped by these people and violated." Unless you're a heartless bastard these words must touch you, but if these words touch you then take a trip down to a hospital and look at the people with failed livers, kidneys, and hearts. Look at the people who have lost their sight because eye disease, and the children dying of leukemia because they need a bone marrow transplant. Take a look at all those people and then tell me about how someone's dead body was raped while live people get screwed. I think there should positively be a mandatory national organ transplant system for every citizen of these nation. Not only would thousands of lives be saved, but it would stop this black market, pay-to-live system going on right now. It would help to equalize the classes, and would be more fair to the suffering.
And by the way, just in case you think I'm being all George Bush here, yes I did sign the back of my license, so when I croak tear my body apart. Have an organ fest! What the hell do I care? I'll be up in heaven with my 69 virgins and Marilyn Monroe!
It's about time that this country, this world puts aside their ideas about the afterlife for the reality of real life, because if we can't do that then literally, the terrorists and the fundamentalists, have won.
4 comments:
Yes, it may seem "draconian", but these are ancient customs and beliefs. Many of our current laws are derived from other ancient customs, traditions and teachings. Like that it's wrong to commit rape and murder.
How we treat our dead shows how we respect our ancestors, family, etc..
How many of those people would have wanted their bodies used to profit some guy in a morgue that figured my liver could bring him enough to buy a new stereo system? Part of burial rituals are not just to fulfil the deceased's wishes, but to also allow the family and loved ones to properly grieve and accept that person's death.
Case in point, the family who's stillborn baby was cremated before they even had a chance to see it. The hospital basically contended it was dead and they did what they had to do. The mother, about three years later, still has nightmares about her baby not getting into heaven.
But I agree with you with the fact that more people should donate their body to science, for organ transplants, life-saving studies, etc.. But again, only if that's their wish.
Shit, I'd be willing to allow my organs to be sold, if the money went to my family. And again, those would be MY wishes.
PS. Would it be cool if someone decided to use your (dead) body for thier own sexual purposes?
Yes, I suppose my beliefs are extremely secular, and perhaps I got a bit carried away with the sentiment. As a believer in civil liberities people have the right to believe in whatever they wish, and likewise have the right to dictate what should happen to their bodies once they die. But you comments reveal the knotted web of how law and religion ties itself up into something subconsciously irrational.
For example you quote "How we treat our dead shows how we respect our ancestors, family, etc..." shows how our religions traditions have shaped the arguement. To me, dead is dead, and respect is a totally other issue. For instance if I was confronted with the body of Osama Bin Laden, I might me tempted to urinate on the dammed thing, or at least bury it face down. Same thing goes for Hussien or any other tyrannical mad man.
In the same hand, if the arguement is about respect and honor, then what could be more honorable then using someone we loved to save other life? In any religion it seems to me that its greatest ideal is to respect and revere life in all its forms and its on going debate is how to respect and revere life. The key word in this is life, and that is what gets forgotten in this conversation.
My arguement about a mandetory system is a bit of hyperbole for the sake of debate, but it is a debate that should be discussed both in churches and our government, and it should be phrased not in terms of religion but in terms of logic and reason. I think that the two can intersect much like Calculus and Quantum Mechanics. One is built on the other, but each resultant evolution clarifies the last. What we need to do is take that next step.
And if anyone wants to rape my dead body, feel free! If it's good enough for Edgar Allen Poe then its good enough for me.
Wanting to defile Osama or Hussein's bodies is a totally different thing. That'd be to purposely disrespect the memory of that a person who might deserve it. But as a general practice, allowing anyone to do whatever they want with a dead body would be to open up a bad can of worms.
Not too long ago, someone was tried for defiling a corpse (he had sex with it), but the charges were dropped because he "took such care" of the body long after, that it wasn't considered "defilement". Now, this wasn't some pact between two people to use the other's body. This was one person, who worked in a morgue, and "feel in love" with a corpse. That's wrong.
Just as stealing organs to sell to the highest bidder would be wrong. First, who's to say how that corpse will be treated after it's harevested? Second, who should benefit from the profits? Third, who's to say who receives the organ? The highest bidder? The most needy person? A family member?
PS. Don't be surprised if someone takes you up on your offer of your corpse.
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