Nothing more than human trash

You probably got the wrong idea when you read the headline above.

I do not mean that some people are trash (well, I don't mean that in this column ... yet). What I mean is some people are simply treated like they are nothing more than a bag of garbage.

This happens all over the place.

Back when Hurricane Katrina whomped the Southeast, Florida evacuees came north. Many stopped over the Turner County.

One family (OK, now is when I refer to people as trash) dropped an elderly lady at the nursing home in town and left. Just drove away.

When she died, all the contact information the "family" left was no good. This woman was treated like a sack of garbage (what I originally meant in the headline). Set it beside the road, it gets picked up and vanishes.

I just can't imagine that.

I should not be surprised. We live in a world where people are disposable commodities. This is nothing new. It is as old as humanity.

I am disappointed.

In this week's newspaper, you can read the story of a Hispanic man who drowned in a pond here. Who was he? No one here is entirely sure. Two names were found, each with a different date of birth.

Family? May have a father still alive. May have a sister alive in Florida.

Whoever this man was, he died with no identification in his pockets or in the vehicle he used to drive here.

If no one claims the body in a few days, he'll be buried in one of our cemeteries.

So sad.