It's always hard to know what is "developing" as in things ascribed to economics and infrastructure and what is "cultural" as in just plain difference.
Dead bodies. I've seen more of them here than I have seen anywhere else. Cars hitting cars, cars hitting motorcycles, cars hitting bicycles, cars hitting pedestrians, the end point is always the same: bodies. There have been four different times when, passing on a side road or on the highway, the telltale red flashing lights and slowed down traffic tells you something is up. And you drive slowly. And there are people just standing around, not doing anything, and there on the pavement is flesh that is broken and red and there are bones or strange angles and again, no one is doing anything. It took me awhile to realize that I was seeing a cadaver, not a wounded person. People standing, smoking cigarettes, waiting for whoever needs to come to confirm the death, move the body, take the relevant information. All of their inactivity means there is nothing more that can be done.
Dead bodies are not unusual. There are dead bodies on the highways in every country that has roads. But I've never seen them before. I'm not sure if it's cultural or due to infrastructure weaknessess as to why the body stays there, uncovered and unchanged on the road, for enough time that multiple passing cars can see it.
Ten years ago, my brother-in-law was in a serious accident. The driver of the other car died. For close to 24 hours, the dead body remained in the car, slumped in the driver's seat, until it was finally removed.
Is it a comfort with death that keeps them uncovered? A law that says nothing can be touched until the medical examiner comes and a developing country infrastructure which means the medical examiner can take a whole day to arrive?
I'm not sure but at this point, if we pass a body and Luca is in the car, Rocki and I practice the art of distraction - successfully, I might add. It's hard enough to pass them at 42 - four years old just feels too young.
1 comment:
I remember when I was about 8 I was in the car with my Dad and Stepmom and there was a bad accident and there was this body on the road and I can remember that the person was wearing black socks, nothing else - but I have never forgotten it. Keep distracting Luca.
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