Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, Susannah Rosenblatt, wrote an article titled, "Unclaimed and forgotten are laid to rest," dated December 7, 2006.
The article struck me on a number of levels, both positive and negative.
On the positive side, it is an act of kindness that our society pays quiet homage to provide a resting place to the loved ones of families who either cannot afford or neglect to bury their loved ones.
Rosenblatt's article states that after waiting 2 years before burial, the County of Los Angeles interred the unclaimed cremains of “1,687 people … (into) a single 7-foot-deep plot. Over eight decades, an estimated 300,000 have been placed nearby.”
Imagine this now. More than 300,000 individuals over eight decades have been cremated and interred in pauper’s graves in Los Angeles County alone.
Pauper’s graves contain the cremains of the indigent or those with families too poor to pay for burial. All of us should want to believe that every human being is special and that they should be buried with dignity. I believe it is special when family can be buried in cemeteries along side the graves of other ancestors with memorials that mark the graves and celebrate the lives of those interred there.
The words that I wish to emphasize are that everyone deserves to be buried and memorialized with a sense of dignity. I would go further and argue that it is the responsibility of every individual to prepurchase his own cemetery plot and monument to provide a place of future interment.
Someone has to take responsibility for end of life decisions. While we may not have had any input into our entry into this world, we certainly should have input into our end of life decisions when we will, inevitably, exit this world.
Brian Steffen of The Monument Center, Bluffton Cemeteries, Inc. wrote me stating: “Thanks for sharing this article. It is sad that some people are not close enough to their families that when they pass away, the families are unaware. Our society is that way due to the lack of close-nit families. People just scatter when they grow older. However, even though the families are not there to pay their respects, God doesn’t lose touch with, or forget, anyone. That is comforting to know.”
If you love your family, you will provide them with a location to grieve, reflect, and to pay their respects. Similar to the all too common practice of discarding cremains at sea a pauper's grave neglects the needs of those who remain after the body has been disposed of as so much refuse. Governmental agencies can only do so much and it is the responsibility of the individual to plan for the future.
Prepare in advance so you do not have a pauper's grave.
Please share your thoughts with me at Burton@USAMonuments.com. If you make good points, I just may share them with my readers of this and other columns.
