The Body Collector

I'm not sure why, but I found this article in today's New York Times really intriguing. (Free registration required.) It's about a body collector in Detroit and how he copes with his job. Interesting words of wisdom from the body collector include:

“You see,” he begins, “80 percent of people die naked and 70 percent die in the toilet. That means most people die naked in the toilet. I can’t explain it. It’s like Elvis. But as far as the afterlife goes, I believe through what I seen that those who commit horror and sin are doomed to repeat life, which is hell.”

***

“My theory?” Mr. Thomas offered. “White people kill themselves. Black people kill each other. Chinese people don’t die.”

It must be rather trying at times to collect dead bodies for a living. Although I would never want to earn my living that way, I imagine it could be fascinating at times. Seeing people as they were in their final moments. Seeing life reduced to a heap of loosely collected cells. It must make for rather unique ruminations.