When HE became IT and an air ticket became a freight charge

As I was thinking the events happened last week,there were couple of hard, sad days....One of my workmate passed away leaving his family,mates in despair.This sudden, unexpected loss has put me in a state of mental unrest.Adding to the loss, the reason for this loss being lack of medical facility in this tiny nation has shook my confidence. Two weeks ago it was my another workmate's spouse and this week my mate- both succumbed to lack of quality emergency medical assistance.

1. When one of my staff told me that this person has died.Shocked, I asked "where is "he "now?".But the reply came "It is in the hospital".No matter how dear a person is to us...he /she becomes "It" the moment something which we do not know what it is has left our physical body.

2. When my employer decided to bear the expenses of repatriation of his mortal remains,I was asked to proceed.As a practice, I approached the airline ticketing counter to know the fare and other details.I was then asked to approach the airline's cargo division as "he" has become "It" and has to be freighted to the destination.

By nature of their jobs, the hospital employees and others who are not closely related to the deceased,refer a dead man/woman as "It" but for the near and dear of the departed souls , they are always "he" or "She" even they are not alive we cannot accept them being referred/treated as objects.