rebeccmeister (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rebeccmeister) wrote2020-12-14 09:54 am
rebeccmeister) wrote2020-12-14 09:54 am
Entry tags:
More Dad thoughts [family]
When I took Native American Issues in college, we spent some time talking about all of the ramifications of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. As a part of those conversations, we of course talked about Kennewick Man - although you need to know this was in the early 2000's, so well before court cases were resolved. I just felt a connection to that particular example because it came from Washington State and we'd heard about it on the news previously. It was one of the rare cases where the place I came from actually came up; most of the time my personal geography wasn't especially relatable to other people in college in the Boston area.
This is a Dad thought for two reasons:
1. My Dad's buried along a tributary of the Columbia River. So he's in the land nearby where Kennewick Man was found.
2. Part of the arrangement with my dad being buried at Herland Forest is that making Herland Forest a burial site was an intentional decision to protect the land there. So I have to say I'm relieved by the eventual outcome for Kennewick Man, who was also returned to the earth.
I recognize the European dilemma of running out of physical space to put the bodies of the dead, but I suppose that might also make a person think carefully about how people relate to the land they live on. I think under those circumstances I'd opt for human composting, which is another way to return human remains to the soil, and which could still foster a sense of direct connection with the earth.
This is a Dad thought for two reasons:
1. My Dad's buried along a tributary of the Columbia River. So he's in the land nearby where Kennewick Man was found.
2. Part of the arrangement with my dad being buried at Herland Forest is that making Herland Forest a burial site was an intentional decision to protect the land there. So I have to say I'm relieved by the eventual outcome for Kennewick Man, who was also returned to the earth.
I recognize the European dilemma of running out of physical space to put the bodies of the dead, but I suppose that might also make a person think carefully about how people relate to the land they live on. I think under those circumstances I'd opt for human composting, which is another way to return human remains to the soil, and which could still foster a sense of direct connection with the earth.