“I’m not afraid of death; I just don’t want to be there when it happens”*…
From Sunbelt seekers and snowbird retirees to economic immigrants and political refugees, folks flock to southern Florida. And many of them chose to return home– if not during their lives, then afterwards… So it’s no surprise that the Miami area is the U.S. capital of corpse repatriation:
The transnational city is a place to die for. Ironically, however, once established in the transnational city, few envision staying there until their last breath. For many, it is a temporary venue, whether as a place of exile, a springboard for upward mobility, or a playground until new opportunities beckon. Few imagine dying there and, as the moment draws near, many make plans to go home.
In the transnational city, which is home to a disproportionate number of the foreign-born and expatriates, death and repatriation are a steady business. The bodies of an estimated 20 percent of South Florida’s deceased are shipped out, more than from any other region in the USA. Most of the HRs (industry shorthand for human remains) going abroad depart from Miami International Airport. According to the CEO of Pierson, a leader in this business since 1964, around 80 percent of business is international, with the company shipping to a range of foreign destinations across Central and South America and a number of European countries as well…
Read more about this last arc in the circle of life (and find out what it costs) at “Miami Is the #1 Airport in America for Shipping Dead Foreigners.”
[TotH to friend PH for the pointer]
* Woody Allen
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As we wonder if there’s a discount fare, we might recall that it was on this date in 1914 that “Little Willie,” the first prototype of the British Mark I tank– thus, the first completed tank prototype in the world– rolled out of the shop. It weighed 14 tons, required rear steering wheels (so got stuck in trenches), and managed only two miles per hour; still, it was the first step toward a technology that revolutionized battlefields.
