For this last reading assignment that was given to our class, I chose to write about, The Secret Life Of A Scene Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein. I chose to write about this because I am sure there are other people than me that think about who actually cleans up crime scenes and things of that nature. She is also a Transgender who had been married twice. The first ended because she was a man that was gay and the second, her husband dies after fifteen years.
This story is about a woman named Sandra, who is now satisfied with her life as a transgender person, living in Australia. She handles the cleaning of crime scenes, deaths, floods, fires, neglected homes, and for the sick. Different government agencies as well as private citizens hire her to do whatever clean-ups that a professional person is needed. Because of her occupation, she is now in need of a lung transplant.
Growing up, she had been adopted and they were very abusive towards her. She was put to do household chores at an early age, starved, and beaten. She had to steal food to eat and was beaten when found out. She was thrown out when she turned seventeen and moved in with a church going family. They let her stay for six months and found her a job.
She became the first female funeral director when she was in her thirties. She enjoyed making the people look good in their death. That is when she realized that there was a need for trauma cleaning and met her husband. She had quit her job when she got married; however, became bored with not doing anything except for traveling.
They had opened up a hardware store together until it went out of business. She began doing odd jobs that not only bore her, she was not making any money. That is when she decided to get into trauma cleaning.
Sandra has been doing this for twenty one years and is satisfied with the way her life has turned out. She has clients and treats each one with the respect and dignity that everyone deserves. She does not criticize anyone for the way they live. Hoarders are treated with the same dignity as family members of the deceased.
In my opinion, because of the abuse she has endured as a child and teen, the treatment she received when her wife found out she was a man who liked men, and her step children annulling her marriage after her husband died, made her the compassionate woman she is today. As a Human Service major, I believe that everyone is a product of their upbringing. Sandra had taken her misfortunes and turned it into a positive outcome instead of a negative one. She found her way of helping people who need it.
I like this story because Sandra was able to be true to her feelings regardless of the repercussions. She does not apologize for the way she was born. She had the strength to become a woman and be truthful about it. Her second marriage, she married a man who did not reject her because she was a Transgender. It was unfortunate that his children did not accept their father's choice. So many people live their life by what other people feel are right and wrong. They are miserable for it; however, they do not have that inner strength to live their life the way they want to. This is a story of perseverance. Anyone who needs inspiration should read this story.
No comments:
Post a Comment