Encompass Blog
The Indigent (or… Harold was a guy I knew)
Well, Harold is the first homeless person that I personally know that has died.
We know that he has family but are having trouble finding them.
I have called the coroner and they have him or rather, his body.
They cannot release any information to anyone but next of kin.
What they can do is put our contact information into his file
so that if the next of kin chose to, they can contact us;
us being those that knew him on the street.
But what if there is no next of kin, or you're indigent?
Well, the county cremates the remains,
and the ashes are “buried” at sea.
There's no ceremony.
They are, for lack of a better word,
dumped out albeit under the Golden Gate Bridge.
We of course, may hold a service for him,
but there will be no urn of course.
If we wish to have his ashes then we pay the cost of … processing?
That cost being, at the time of his death, $1,000.
If we wish to hold a service at his scattering,
well, at this point, I am told it is not allowed.
Neither can we hold a service that includes his ashes,
and then return them to be scattered.
This, in many ways, seems to be the ultimate slight.
If no one can afford to purchase your remains,
then the government disposes of you.
Incinerated like medical waste.
To acknowledge your humanity is to have to pay.
The only solace for the loved ones is that well,
it's a pretty place where you'll be scattered.
No family came to claim his body
(or could not afford the $1,000)
and we could not afford to “purchase” it.
