CREMATION: Trendy? Necessary? Miserly? Sensible? Gross? Unthinkable?

[arwalden]

That's what I have planned for my remains. Why postpone the inevitable? Why spend good money on ghoulish embalming? Why waste money on an overpriced casket and a plot of land?

My aunt thinks I'm making a mistake. She fears for my 'immortal-soul' and frets that I'll won't be able to rise up from the dead on the day of rapture. She's sweet... but... oh well.

Cremate and sprinkle me, please. (And thank you.)

-- Allen

P.S. I'll leave it up to my friends on deciding where to sprinkle me. Or if they want to keep me on the mantle, that's fine too. Or... if they MUST... they can go ahead and get one of those "apartments" (glorified cubby-hole) in a mausoleum so that strangers can see my name and think to themselves "oh-my-he-lived-to-be-one-hundred-one".

[short bus president]

1. I will be cremated

and have my ashes portioned out into those little plastic Easter Eggs for a scavenger hunt. My memorial will be fun, if it's to do my memory any justice at all.

[twilight]

2. is your aunt Catholic?

That is how Catholics believe - that if you aren't buried you will not go on to the afterlife.

If you opt for cremation they have changed their position on burial. They now say it is ok, but the ashes should be buried.

I've prearranged myself and I really don't care. Plans are to be scattered at sea.

My family owns two big plots in Colma near San Francisco with "space available" in both. I checked these plots and with them goes some very sad and tragic history.

In fact, one has the words engraved on the tombstone, "dum tacet clamat" which translates to "while silent he screams" on it! I wonder if you'd find everylasting peace buried (be it ashes or the actual body) in such a place?

At this point I have no intention of changing my plans and I think that if we are destined for everlasting life, it will be there, cremated and buried or not.


:shrug:

[meow2u3]

14. That has changed since 1965

If you're Catholic, and have a good reason for cremation (such as no room for a burial), it's OK to go ahead with cremation as long as a Catholic believes that God will put'em back together at the end of the world (after all, he does have the blueprint).

[FireHeart]

3. Cremation is just fine.

It's just an empty shell. I doubt the spirit (if any) is going to worry overmuch about being embalmbed and buried or embalmbed and cremated. Yes, the law requires one or the other.

[arwalden]

6. What A RACKET!! Embalming to cremate... good grief!!

That's not right. It's just wrong, wrong, wrong.

[twilight]

8. wasn't the case for 3 I know

I pretty much handled the arrangements for both parents and my late uncle. None of them were embalmed, they were all cremated. The cost was pretty low and I know they weren't embalmed. Maybe it depends on what state you reside in????????

:shrug: again!

[izzie]

4. It has taken me years to come to it but I am askng my kids to do that.

I must have a stone so the lot will have to be paid for.

[Devlzown]

5. I think it's sensible and

I plan to have it done for myself. I just think of all the land wasted on cemeteries. Of course, that land would probably be used to build condos or golf courses, so I guess we're screwed either way.

[liberalmuse]

7. Cremation, because it's sensible

I don't want my friends and family to picture my rotting corpse in some box deep in the earth, like I picture my brother sometimes. I want to be sprinkled in the mountains near a patch of wild flowers and help fertilize what I've enjoyed so much while living. It's cheap and less formal. I'd rather have my loved ones enjoying the outdoors instead of staring at a coffin in some stuffy church.

[Ellen Forradalom]

9. Me too.

I'm joining my brother and father in the eternal waters of Lake Michigan. From dust I came, to dust I shall return.

[arwalden]

10. I Attended The Funeral Of A Friend Who Was Cremated...

... and her grandchildren also were there.

Unfortunately, although the grandchildren understood the concepts that people die... and that dead people are put in boxes and buried... NOBODY had told them about cremation.

Nobody explained what it was. Why it was. Or that their grandmother had been cremated.

At the funeral service, I heard the oldest one of them whisper to their mother, "Where's her casket?" (Not knowing that the small wooden box on the pedestal was indeed her urn.)

"Up there on the stand." was the reply.

"How did they fit her in THAT?"

To which a brief explanation about cremation followed, and the little girl just started crying hysterically. It was all so sad.

-- Allen

[bicentennial_baby]

11. Rocket yer ashes into space!

That's what I'm gonna do!! :bounce:

"The Voyager service launches the cremated remains into deep space.

-The launch of a symbolic portion of the cremated remains into deep space
-Flight capsule imprinted with personal message
-Invitation to the launch event
-Personalized video of launch event and memorial ceremony
-Dedicated virtual memorial of the deceased on our web site
-Contribution to the Celestis Foundation
-Performance assurance

Price of Service: $12,500. Payment plans are available."

http://www.celestis.com/

Then you really are "One" with the universe!!

[NightTrain]

12. Both my parents were cremated

Much as I hate to think about it again, my mother had been dead for several days before anyone found her. (I was out of town when it happened, and my father was living 2,500 miles away. My parents were divorced.) Without going into horrid and unncessary detail, I had no choice but to have my mother cremated.

During the ordeal, I asked my father what he wanted me to do when his time came. He told me to cremate him, as well. So I did.

Seems to me, with overpopulation becoming a serious problem, it makes a lot more sense to cremate. That way, you don't take up valuable space creating more cemeteries.

Just my two cents....

[arwalden]

13. And A Well-Reasoned Two Cents It Was...

... sorry to hear about your situation, but all things considered... it all just makes the most sense of all the options.

-- Allen

[NashVegas]

15. I Wanna Be WORMFOOD, Baby!

When I was much younger, I wanted to be cremated; the costs of a traditional funeral are outrageously expensive.

Now though, I think about the earth-cycle and how it runs on organic resources. Would we be having this little online-discussion if the dinosaurs and other previous life were cremated?

I want to be buried in the cheapest, most easily degradable box there is and let the crawly creatures have at it.

[DCDemo]

16. It's a good thing

In Switzerland, my other country, cremation is the standard...except for the Catholics. A lot of that is just because of room - after a while, you run out of space for full-size graves!

[booksenkatz]

17. Burn my body

and then throw the ashes into the faces of each of my enemies.

I've got several books about the funeral business, it's a huge scam, and they're going to get as little money as possible from me/my family when I die. What a racket! All for a perfectly normal biological process. It's environmentally irresponsible to do anything but cremate, to my way of thinking. All of this preservation of the body with chemicals, preserved for WHAT? It's nuts.

No, I'm going to be cremated and my ashes will be strewn at our family farm in Texas. And if by chance there is such a thing as the afterlife, then when I arise, I shall be a bit ashen-faced, that's all.

[CRK7376]

18. We cremated the remains of

both my parents and divided them equally amongst the three siblings. Each to do with as he or she pleased. Both my parents asked to be cremated upon their deaths. I spread their ashes in places that were special to each of them and to each other. I plan to be cremated when it's my time with my remains scattered in special places. My wife is not real happy with that idea, but our kids understand my request. Hopefully it's along way off but.....one never knows....