Burial, Cremation or Entombment?

[Aurora Black]

Warning: Not for the Faint of Heart, Easily Angered/Upset or the Recently Bereaved.

This thread was never meant to hurt anyone, and I apologize in advance for any offense taken by the subject matter or the tone of the thread; it was certainly unintentional.

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Since my birthday a few days ago, I've been thinking a lot about death in general and thinking about how I want to be laid to rest when the time comes.

My conclusion: I have no earthly idea whatsoever, and I have a strong aversion to every major option. In fact, I'd rather not think about it at all until I'm mature enough to react differently to the subject and make a decision without thinking/saying "Ewwwww...."

Ahem.

Burial scares the hell out of me because of the enclosed space and decomposition involved. I'm aware that it's inevitable and a natural process, but damn it's nasty. I guess I've watched too many horror movies featuring maggots and other creepy crawlies.

Cremation, to me, seems like the lesser evil. But it still involves burning. Although I know I'll probably be floating in the ether somewhere and won't be able to feel it, I still don't like the idea of my body being blasted in a huge gas oven. Extra crispy? No thanks.

As for the crypt/mausoleum option, I'm somewhat indifferent about it. It seems like Burial Light to me. Lonely, too.

Thoughts?

 

[Guest]

I'd PREFER immortality, at least until it got boring, as long as I didn't have to end up a cricket.

Failing that, I went with cremation -- and to be sprinkled on a rose garden and trees planted in my name.

 

[Aurora Black]

I'd PREFER immortality, at least until it got boring, as long as I didn't have to end up a cricket.

Failing that, I went with cremation -- and to be sprinkled on a rose garden and trees planted in my name.

So in a way, you would live on to give life to your garden. Poetic.

 

[Guest]

the worms crawl in
the worms crawl out

erm
no spank you.

burn me and toss whatever stays behind in the water...ocean preferably but i'm open to being flushed.

 

[artisticbiguy]

so long as I'm DEAD, I don't care what is done with the carcus as I'm not going to be there anyway... however, as I do not like the idea of wasting space on storing a body that has no use, I would prefer they take my corporeal remains and redue them to the smallest common denominator (ashes). I don't have a preference at this time as to what to be done with the ashes. Maybe be spread with my parents' ashes in the lake in Maine... but I won't care, I'm not going to be hanging around to ensure my 'final wishes' are honored.

 

[Liar]

After being stripped of organs useful for others, I want to be done away with in whatever fashion the ones I leave behind are most comfortable with. It's they who'll have to be there and go through it, not I.

 

[Guest]

So in a way, you would live on to give life to your garden. Poetic.

I've always found the whole grave/crypt thing distasteful. I had no choice about my mother, and my father expressed particular wishes to which I complied. I still have to get to Wyoming to plant something on his grave. Nothing is allowed where my mother is buried (they were divorced) and I find that place very cold, so I don't visit. Honestly, I never believed she was there, anyway. I went because I was expected to go.

Since modern embalming and burial traditions and requirements are all about preserving the dead body (I think it is, at least in part, tied in with the Christian idea of resurrection, which to me seems contradictory in that you don't NEED extra preservatives if Jesus Son of God the Omnipotent is going to raise up EVERYONE, all the way back, but that's another story...) So, my wishes are no viewing, no playing with the dead body, just burn it up and fertilize with it.

 

[Guest]

so long as I'm DEAD, I don't care what is done with the carcus as I'm not going to be there anyway... however, as I do not like the idea of wasting space on storing a body that has no use, I would prefer they take my corporeal remains and redue them to the smallest common denominator (ashes). I don't have a preference at this time as to what to be done with the ashes. Maybe be spread with my parents' ashes in the lake in Maine... but I won't care, I'm not going to be hanging around to ensure my 'final wishes' are honored.

if it is at all within the realm of possibility...
i plan on haunting as many people as possible. i have havoc to spread for many...sides its funny when people get worked up.

 

[Aurora Black]

the worms crawl in
the worms crawl out

erm
no spank you.

burn me and toss whatever stays behind in the water...ocean preferably but i'm open to being flushed.

Gack!

After I moved here, my mom told me that when the time comes she wanted me to scatter her ashes in the Mediterranean. I shudder to think of the legal red tape that I'd have to wade through in order to carry that out in addition to the obvious distress I'd feel in that situation.

 

[arienette]

Cremation, since I'll be dead and unable to feel anything anyway.

 

[impressive]

I'd really prefer that my physical body return to the earth ... but I do NOT want to be buried in a casket in a cemetery. The trappings surrounding death & burial make no sense whatsoever to me.

So, my number one choice (which is not on the poll) is to plop my dead body in a hole & plant a tree over me. I won't be needing it any more -- and neither will anyone else -- so I might as well be fertilizer.

Barring that, cremation with scattered ashes. No grave site -- under any circumstances.

 

[Aurora Black]

if it is at all within the realm of possibility...
i plan on haunting as many people as possible. i have havoc to spread for many...sides its funny when people get worked up.

I you.

 

[Guest]

Gack!

After I moved here, my mom told me that when the time comes she wanted me to scatter her ashes in the Mediterranean. I shudder to think of the legal red tape that I'd have to wade through in order to carry that out in addition to the obvious distress I'd feel in that situation.

For me, as hard as my dad's death was, having things to do really helped. I got through the majority of it without much of a hitch. It was distracting.

I'm going to post something to your thread, Aurora, in a little fit of ego, and a little fit of sharing. It's something I wrote some time ago, and it really has no place in the world, but this might be the right spot to share it. And, of course, it's for ABG.


Prompt: From Prompts and Practices: "A Year After Your Death"

It should have been dark. It should have been cold or rainy or at least overcast. The day was perfectly blue and clear, the air warm, and a light breeze brought with it the scent of flowers mixed with an echo of barbeque smoke and water. I felt practically insulted.

I looked around the dock. The old row boat was still overturned and raised on the two old logs we'd rolled there. Dead leaves moved and rustled when I walked by. Something was alive under there. The bottom of the boat showed rust. I remembered rowing across the lake with you and bailing with panicky laughter, debating loudly if the lure of fresh made donuts was worth drowning.

The dock creaked under my feet. It extended only a few yards over the spit of lake, held up over the rocks that despite years of washing were still black and sharp. Your father built it, you told me, and you helped. It might last a few more years, but I'll leave it to someone else to replace it. The "For Sale" sign on the road above the cabin has attracted a few phone calls. People like summer cottages on Maine lakes.

I can hear the whine of ski boats further away, on the larger main part of the lake. Under my arm is a black plastic box. I had a friend, when I was very young, who used boxes like this to hold the ammunition he packed for his guns. He liked to shoot targets and make custom gun stocks. I would sit in his garage and arrange the bright brass shells inside these tall, square, peculiar boxes. He'd worked at a funeral home when he'd gotten them.

I haven't looked inside this particular box since the politely smiling lady at the funeral home had handed it to me. I'd refused the ornate and expensive urns in their catalog. The box would work. You'd have preferred that. Now it was time to look inside that box.

By the time I stood on the end of the dock, I couldn't hear the children anymore. The blueberry bushes nodded behind me. I'd never eaten a blueberry picked from the bush until you brought me up here. The purple stains on my fingers were delicious. Beyond them, on the right, was the last stand of rocks before open water, where one summer you had posed for my camera, glistening and young and beautiful, your hair sleek and your chest covered in drops.

It was hard to pry the black lid from the black box. It cut my finger and when the lid pulled away, a few drops of my blood dripped inside. I paused then, pondering the poetry of the random events. My blood was always mingled with yours on some level. The thought appealed to me and made me smile at my romantic nonsense. You would have appreciated the symbolism.

When I tipped the box over and let the grey dust fall out, I wanted to say some final words. It should be something significant, something important and memorable, but if you were listening you already knew what I wanted to say, and if you weren't there was no one to hear but me. I thought about singing to you, but my throat was so tight I knew my voice would be choked and no sound would come out. The dust fell into the water, some of it picked up by the breeze and spread across the rocks. I shook the box, making sure that this last bit of you went to the place you loved. The silence was enough. I watched the grey mass absorb the water and start to sink as some little current carried it back under the dock. There wasn't any tissue the pocket of my shorts, so I had to wipe my cheeks and nose on the back of my arm.

 

[Aurora Black]

So, my number one choice (which is not on the poll) is to plop my dead body in a hole & plant a tree over me. I won't be needing it any more -- and neither will anyone else -- so I might as well be fertilizer.

Oops. I just automatically lumped everything relating to the ground under "Burial." Sorry.

 

[cloudy]

I'd really prefer that my physical body return to the earth ... but I do NOT want to be buried in a casket in a cemetery. The trappings surrounding death & burial make no sense whatsoever to me.

So, my number one choice (which is not on the poll) is to plop my dead body in a hole & plant a tree over me. I won't be needing it any more -- and neither will anyone else -- so I might as well be fertilizer.

Barring that, cremation with scattered ashes. No grave site -- under any circumstances.

I agree with Imp. People here in the south have almost a cult of death thing going on, it's creepy. I want no part in it.

 

[impressive]

Oops. I just automatically lumped everything relating to the ground under "Burial." Sorry.

No apology necessary. I made an assumption, too.

 

[Aurora Black]

I'm going to post something to your thread, Aurora, in a little fit of ego, and a little fit of sharing. It's something I wrote some time ago, and it really has no place in the world, but this might be the right spot to share it. And, of course, it's for ABG.

Thank you for sharing that with us, Mal. It was beautiful.

 

[Aurora Black]

I agree with Imp. People here in the south have almost a cult of death thing going on, it's creepy. I want no part in it.

I get chills whenever I see a New Orleans type funeral in movies. (ETA: For that very reason.)

 

[artisticbiguy]

"A Year After Your Death"

By the time I stood on the end of the dock, I couldn't hear the children anymore. The blueberry bushes nodded behind me. I'd never eaten a blueberry picked from the bush until you brought me up here. The purple stains on my fingers were delicious. Beyond them, on the right, was the last stand of rocks before open water, where one summer you had posed for my camera, glistening and young and beautiful, your hair sleek and your chest covered in drops.

Love my baby
Hugs Mal.

this is the image Mal remembers.
http://abguye.com/misc/abg-lake2.jpg​

 

[R. Richard]

Cremation for me. I have it my will that my ashes are to be thrown in the face of the desk personnel at the local IRS office! Just because I am dead does not mean that I have to stop fighting.

 

[McKenna]

A while ago this topic came up and Ogg made mention of a "Green Burial" (or something like that.) As I understood it, it's being buried in a coffin that is highly biodegradeable. Your body will be returned to the Earth in a much faster fashion than a normal burial. As far as I know, this option is not yet available in the U.S. But should it ever become available, I like the thought of feeding the flowers and trees and even the worms.

Barring that, cremation for me, please. And spread my ashes in the mountains.

 

[entitled]

My preference isn't on there, either. i want to be on the top of a huge friggin bonfire, surrounded by drunken revelry and debauchery.

It's great having a barbarian outlook on life sometimes. Especially when it comes to death.

 

[Guest]

My preference isn't on there, either. i want to be on the top of a huge friggin bonfire, surrounded by drunken revelry and debauchery.

It's great having a barbarian outlook on life sometimes. Especially when it comes to death.

that's effectively cremation, just with a big-ass party

 

[entitled]

that's effectively cremation, just with a big-ass party

However, it's highly illegal anywhere in the US.

 

[Guest]

However, it's highly illegal anywhere in the US.

Yeah, there's a whole thing about burning people for free. Industry protectionism, that's what it is!

I wonder if you'd be able to do it in Iceland?