Value on life

THE discovery of human remains by a technician working at the Kinoya Sewerage Plant in Nasinu on Monday would have attracted attention. It isn’t something you would expect to see there, but it was there and questions will be asked about how that happened.

We learn that the discovery has prompted an inquiry by the Fiji Police Force Crime Scene Investigations unit.

It may be difficult to ascertain how it ended up there, however, there would be concern that it did. And that raises the issue of what are we dealing with in this instance.

According to police, the technician was cleaning the sewer line when he noticed a rag, which was believed to contain human bones, stuck in the system.

As police investigations continue, we reflect on the “why” and the “how” in this case.

We wonder about circumstances, and reasons. We wonder about the value of life, and the dangers of being de-sensitised to something like this happening.

Now that would be a concern.

Life may hang by a thread. And that’s part of the beauty of life.

We have many reasons to live it to the brim. This instance also allows us to consider how fragile life is and why we need to protect it.

We should consider re-evaluating how we treat life. We live and we learn, and we appreciate many things. The last thing we should be doing is not caring. That would be unfortunate and not a healthy sign of the times.

It is when we shrug aside something like this happening, and fall back on assumptions because we can; that’s when we should be concerned about how much value we place on life.

We have had cases of bodies left in the morgue because no one has come forward to claim them.

We have had some that have been there for months on end, and yet no one is coming forward.

We hope this isn’t a sad reflection of who we have become as a people.

Let’s talk about this.

Let’s consider the implications, and the consequences of our actions.

We are supposed to be caring people. We are sometimes seen as fun-loving people.

We sing, dance and are generally happy people. We have rich traditions and culture to fall back on. We are resilient and it shows every time there is a natural disaster.

The last thing we want is being numb to the sanctity of life.

Now that would really be sad!