I am a social worker who works in a psychiatric prison hospital. I deal with bad people every day. By my professional ethics and the standards of the agency for which I work, I am required to treat the patients with dignity.
When someone enters a public service profession, even in a private business, they have to realize that they will deal with people whose actions are despicable, but require their services, anyway. This applies to social welfare organizations, religious organizations, medical and mental health care organizations, funeral services, public utilities, what have you.
NPR http://www.npr.org/ aired the news that the funeral home that prepared the deceased Boston Bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was having a difficult time finding a place to bury the body. Finally someone stepped forward, Martha Mullen http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/05/11/183118085/emotions-run-high-after-boston-bombing-suspects-burial. I sent this to NPR:
I want to thank Martha Mullen for her actions to get Boston Bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev buried. I could not figure out how to comment on the story directly, so I am sending this in. As I heard about the Funeral Home that accepted his body, but could not find a place to bury him, I found myself getting angry. I hate what Tsarnaev is accused of doing But I felt that he, too, should be accorded a burial in his faith. Martha's comments were a perfect reflection of what I felt, but I was not sure where to start, and as this went on and on, I kept trying to think what could I do. I am a Christian, actually a non-practicing Catholic. But my "faith" tells me that, as Martha said, sometimes we have to move into the uncomfortable to live our beliefs. Good for her!
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