L.A. County brings some dignity to death

Everyone's seen an episode of Law and Order, or CSI, or NCIS where a homeless body is found and an investigation begins. Who's body is it? Where is this person's family? These are some of the questions first asked about the deceased. By the end of the episode some sobbing sister or father is sitting beside the lead detective talking about a big arguement that disconnected the person from their family.

While this all seems like great detective work on TV, police all over America face this very real scenario every day. In L.A., the city holds a yearly burial for the approximately 1,600 unclaimed remains that are cremated every year. None of these people are buried unidentified, however. Every person who dies are identified and if possible, their family members are notified. Despite this, many are still buried in the mass grave because the families can't afford to take possesion of the ashes.

This author didn't have a clear goal to the article. Within his writing he does several things:
-He tries to persuade the reader that there should be some way created to decrease the amount of dead buried in anonymous graves in L.A. For this he uses logos, giving the large number of 1,639 as the amount of people buried in a mass grave this year. He uses pathos, telling about how chaplains are usually the last people to hear the dead telling " stories of family members who hurt them or family they hurt." Both of these methods paint a sad picture for the reader as to the last days of these individuals.
-He tries to convince readers to mend any family problems they might have. He says, "...think about mending relationships with people we consider our family, whether by birth or by friendship."
-He tries to persuade readers to do more charity work. "...through volunteer work in a neighborhood, in a charity or other nonprofit, individuals can reach out to people in need."
All in all, I agree with him on his points but I think he could've stated them in a more organized way, or over more than one article so he could put more into every one of his statements.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/opinionla/la-ed-burial-20111210,0,5874207.story