Mabel is missing....

When I teach anatomy, I am reminded that ours is the only species that has reverence for our dead bodies. Anyone who wants to explore this a bit should read STIFF, by Mary Roach. It will change your views, one way or another.
This morning on WEBZ I heard about Mabel, who died in Tucson, AZ at the ripe age of 89. She was cremated and her ashes sent through the U.S. Mail (bad idea) to her family here in Chicago, who were planning to bury the ashes last week. Unfortunately the package of Mabel's cremains is now "missing." The family is, perhaps understandably, upset. They paid the postage in advance, it seems.
On the other extreme I heard a somewhat less sentimental story of a young Afghan man at a Pakistani madrasa who, thanks to the tender mercies of Islamofascist adults who have chosen a different career path, wants to grow up to be a suicide bomber. His remains will be unlikely to even fit into an envelope, and I'll bet his mother will be pretty upset, too, if her son "succeeds."
The Bible tells us that God told our first parents that from dust they had come and to dust they would return. Actually, given the options above, dust isn't too bad.
It reminds us that what is human about us is not our bodies but our spirits, which science cannot figure out and, I'll wager, never will. I for one am glad. Mabel and the boy above may not enjoy a beautiful day like today but you and I can.