Misty May-Treanor spreading mother's ashes?

Question

I can only imagine how hard it is to not have her mother during these times. In a way I think it is really special that she is able to do this. On the other hand I think its wrong. I am not trying to be insensitive, but does anyone else find this disturbing? It almost seems unsanitary.

Answer 1

personally i think it's really cool that she sprinkled her mother's ashes on the court. she just wants her mother to be with her and its not unsanitary... its the olympics! she just won gold! give her a break. what do they even do with the sand after the olympics are over?

Answer 2

If  you really think about it, human ashes are everywhere.  People spread ashes everywhere and they get blown around.  Imagine how much are in the waters.  If you saw the videon in Athens, I don't think any went on the sand. It seemed it was blown everywhere.

Answer 3

Let's ignore our western ideology of the "sweetness" and "tenderness" of her act.  And, for that matter, disregard that I approve of it.

But it's the gold medal match:  nobody else is going to play on the sand :)

Answer 4

well her mom's life was volleyball!

its just like if her mom loved the ocean she would spread her ashes in the ocean!

i personally don't think it is disturbing volleyball was apart of her mom and now her mom is apart of  volleyball its a sentimental thing maybe even what her mom wanted.

Answer 5

I do not really think its cool at all.  It is not only her and her mother on the court. You have to share the court with your opponents and - no matter how bad you want to beat them - you really have to respect them. (This is one of the most important Olympic idea). I don´t think there is anybody who wants to jump in the sand and sniff burnt dead body particles.

Some Brazilian tribes take dried heads of their dead ancestors everywhere they go. Would it be cool if the Brazilian team placed some of them e.g. on the net posts? I don´t think so..

Answer 6

I just read about that earlier this morning and I found myself stuck in a similar thought process.

It's great she can honor her mother that way, and she's a great player and I have all the respect in the world for her

but it's also a bit odd, and no offense, she's sprinkling a dead person on the court when you think about it.

So in the end, i feel like she could have just left it to the tatoo on her shoulder, and keep the ashes at home, but that's what she wants to do

Answer 7

The idea of this is a good one, but the implementation is pretty bad.  It's never okay for someone to spread human remains at will because of their own wants and wishes.  They must consider other people as well.  When she spreads her mom's ashes on a volleyball court where other players then have to play hard and roll around in the sand, they are now rolling in human remains.  And I don't think anyone would be hard-pressed to say that is not okay.

After winning gold and hugging her dad, she went up to the court and threw out the ashes between two Chinese officials with not much clearance.  Did she ask them if they potentially wanted to breathe in her mom's remains or get the ashes on their clothing?  I don't think so.  

It is a touching gesture if you just look at it from Misty's point of view.  But it is also a very selfish gesture if you look at it from the point of view of everyone else she shares the world with.