A Dead Body

Working as a nurse, I’ve occasionally had to prepare a dead body for transport to the morgue. One of the first times I did that, I closed the door to the dead person’s room, and went about my work slowly, quietly, and thoughtfully. My clearest sense was, “This person is no longer here. This cold meat on the bed is lacking something it used to have. There is something more to us humans than the body. There really is a soul.”

As I imagine a nurse putting an IV into someone’ arm to kill him or her in the service of the death penalty, I think, “This business of separating souls from bodies. We are dealing with a sacred union that is beyond us. Let’s leave that to God.”

-Tim