Adam Air - Flight KI-574
It has been 18 days since the Adam Air flight went down in stormy weather and they are now fairly conclusively finding remnants of the flight, like seats with serial numbers, parts of wings, and various objects washing ashore. A body has been found, but has been said not to be from the flight. Where is it from? Info isn't available. They've found pieces of scalp and clothing as well; DNA tests have begun.
The situation is more and more somber each day - and what is left now? Closure? Is a piece of scalp going to give anyone closure? Must we dig around and send pieces of people home in a body bag to their grieving families?
I have no idea - I've never lost anyone so close to me. On the one hand, some things are best remembered happy and carefree like two adventurous daughters on the brink of accomplishing great things in life, rather than pieces of scalp and teeth. On the other hand, I have a pretty healthy sense of denial and may live my whole life otherwise, thinking that it was a mistake and they'll come home any second unless I'm given a sliver of bone to hold on to and weep over.
It would seem, with the exception of religious faith for some reason unknown to me, humans like proof for what they believe. If every person is accounted for by tooth or nail or hair, there is no chance that Stephanie is sitting on an island somewhere shivering, wondering why her mother isn't raising hell to find her. Is this possible right now...yes. Is it probable...no. But how awful would it be if we stopped trying and she's out there? Turns my stomach - but so does sending parts of people back to their families and giving them the further slap in the face they will never forget.
I guess I just hope all the families involved get as much comfort as they can, be it in the closure of sceince, or the mystery of hope and wonder, or the acceptance of that which you cannot change without question.
A collection of pics of Stephanie; I know most of you don't know her, but any contagous smile is worth spreading. = )
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephaniejackson21/
STEPHANIE, YOU WILL BE MISSED.
posted by chinchilla @ 2:21 PM
2 Comments:
I'm very sorry for your loss babe :-(
It's so hard when we lose those that are close to us, just try to remember all of the good times that you had with her. Looking at the pictures it seems like stephanie was a very happy woman who had led an incredible life in the short time she had here. If there is anything I can do for you, or if there's anything you need please let me know, I'm here for you!
Having lost a friend abruptly like that, I really don't know what to say that could make things better. It's still unreal to me and it's been over a year - just... there one day, gone the next, vanished on a distant stretch of highway. One thing I found, though, was that while thinking about the accident still makes me sad, the happy memories remain more prominent than the sad one. When the initial shock of it all passes, you will, I hope, go on to remember Stephanie for how she was, not how she left.
As for the gruesome stuff that sounds really petty and, well, cold, the motivation for all the DNA tests on whatever bits and pieces they find is that positively identifying the dead is very important for many things involving lots of money (life insurance, wills, other contracts) and 'closure for the families' is just a PR part of that. I know it's harsh to asses human tragedy in terms of its financial consequences but if you're an insurance company, that's all you do.
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