And now for something completely not-fun

[deathpixie]

My co-worker Sarah was just telling me how the back office staff used to grade families' reactions when they saw their loved ones in the identification room. With cards numbered 1-10. I just got a 9 - there was an industrial accident this afternoon where a welder was hit and killed by a falling metal plate. HIs defacto aife is English, out here without family, pregnant and with a two year old. She's devestated. And I have to say, there's few things harder in this world than to sit at your desk and pretend to type whilst a grief striken woman is keening just around the corner. Luckily his family was with her, holding her together since there was bugger all I could do.

I really hate this part.

Comments

[anastasiab.livejournal.com]

That sounds incredibly callous and terrible, and I'm appalled until I remember how just yesterday my colleagues and I were laughing at a road wreck personal injury death case.

I feel pretty damn guilty for that when I think about it, but I know that the human mind can't process such sorrow, and black humor is how we HAVE to get through things like that.

I know you're a damn emphathetic person- if we allowed ourselves to resonate with the empathy we feel at other humans pain, then we couldn't do anything. I couldn't prepare my case. You couldn't prepare your files. We would get nothing done but weep.

I think the important thing is that we still feel that second-hand pain, still know it's there. If we can do that, the other is OK. I dread the day I don't feel that pain. I'm getting increasingly desensitized, but I hope I can always at least know that the pain is there and be discreet when I have to.

*hugs you from afar*

[deathpixie]

*ods* Yeah, that's pretty much it - and the scoring system isn't something that's done any more, thank goodness. That one was a bit much for me.

I found myself choking up as I was putting the details of the accident on the computer. All I could hear was his wife's screaming, and his mother telling him she'll always love him.

Gah. And here's me on my own for another six hours.