To the Editor,
So, young Miss Heavenly Hafford was no longer a human being after Sparks ran over her! I cannot fathom the mindset of an alleged human who could think up something like that as an excuse to get a *$#@*%$ out of a jail sentence. A mind like that is totally alien to normal humans. The more I think about this monstrosity, this absolute miscarriage of justice, the madder I get.
If a dead person is not a "person," why do we call one a "person?" Why do we call cemeteries Holy Ground? Why do we have laws against abandoning a corpse or desecrating a corpse. Why can't a woman just flush a miscarriage down the toilet or throw it in the trash dumpsters? You read about instances of that every few months in the paper. Why is it against the law to dig up Native American graveyards? Why do archeologists need special permits to have a dig? After all, what they are digging up isn't human. Why is it against the law to dig up a grave anywhere in the U.S. and sell bodies? Remember the trouble grave robbers got into when they would dig up bodies to give to doctors for research? Why is Planned Parenthood in trouble for selling baby body parts?
Can you imagine the repercussions this decision will make as a precedent in courts? "Mom: Where is your little brother? Kids: Oh, yea; Johnny fell off the cliff. He was dead, so he wasn't a human any longer, so we just left him there for the wolves to eat. Sorry Mom." "Families: What do you mean we aren't having a moment of silence in memorial for the 9-11 dead this September in New York? Oh, they're dead so they aren't human so there's no reason to go to the expense? I see." "Superintendent: We aren't getting out of school for Memorial Day or Veterans Day any more. It's silly to have such a to do over non-humans." "Governor: No, there will be no flags flown at half mast at her death. Doesn't matter that she died saving 16 children in a fire. She's not human, so we aren't doing anything to honor her." "Campers: Mary drowned on our camping trip. We lost all our supplies in the river, so we just ate her. She was not human any longer, after all, and it was too hard to catch a rabbit."
And to think a judge...A JUDGE...signed off on this revelation! It completely boggles the mind. At my age, mind boggling isn't good; I'm getting too close to becoming non-human as it is. Maybe I'll just instruct my children to feed my body to the pigs. Might as well be useful after I become non-human and it'll save a whopper of a bill at the local mortuary. Hey, maybe the idea will catch on and mortuaries will become obsolete. "Soylent Green," anyone?
Ruthie Haynes Carter
Poplar Bluff, Mo.