Personally, I think this whole funeral thing is creepy.

[panader0]

Waste of time and money. What's with the staffs the religious folks were holding?
Like some ancient war troops. Are the honor guards guns loaded?
I will be cremated with no service, and have my ashes tossed to the wind in a
small town in New Mexico, where I tossed my mom's ashes.
A spectacle for it's own sake.....

[sarcasmo]

1. My ashes planted with a sapling. Funeral costs are a waste of money.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. Sprinkle Me In The Bunker. . .

. . .on the 8th hole. Getting my revenge as that is the most difficult bunker i've ever been in.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. Societies like ceremonies.

They are commemorations of occurrences a society considers important. They will always exist. I'm not famous or important so they'll just double-bag my old dead ass and set me out at the curb for the weekly trash collection, but the death of a person who was in some way important to a society will be the occasion for a ceremony. It has always been that way and probably always will.

[hlthe2b]

3. the military marching, stomping, and conveyance of direction in what sounds like grunts is not

something I'd ever get used to. No slam meant to the military traditions (AT ALL), but it is jarring for many of us.

[2naSalit]

7. I always

thought that it was meant to be jarring as death is to be feared in that belief system.

[vlyons]

4. Church rituals are theatre

The staffs are the Bishop's staffs, symbolic of a sheppard, who guards and directs his flock. I look at the ritual with the perspective of anthropology. All cultures have rituals to mark life events, birth, marriage, death, etc.

When I had alpacas and llamas, I used a sheppard's staff. Came in handy.

[BannonsLiver]

5. Thanks for the update.

[Siwsan]

6. They bring comfort and closure to the mourning family and friends.

Personally, I have already made my plans and they don't include a funeral or any memorial service. My family has the instructions about what to do with my ashes. And they know if they don't follow them, I'll haunt them to the ends of the earth.

[Blue_true]

9. I have a similar goal.

Be cremated without any ceremony. And have my ashes dumped into the ocean (if that is allowed). Return me to nature quickly instead of me taking a century to rot out.

[nolabear]

10. Funerals are art. They're incredibly revelatory.

Have the one you want. That’s great. I’m an atheist myself, and want to have my ashes put into the Mississippi at the foot of St. Ann. It’s an old NO tradition.

But that’s one kind of art. This is another. The cathedral is amazing. The rituals have bound people for as long as we’ve been people. The music soars. I love people for doing big, foolish, emotional things.

[kimbutgar]

11. I found my Dads letter about his wishes when he died and in big letters he wrote NO FUNERAL

Cremation only and ashes scattered to sea. He hated funerals and thought they a waste of money.

[Snarkoleptic]

12. No funeral for me!

My ashes must go to ʻAuʻau Channel, between Maui and Lana'i.

[HipChick]

13. To each his own...

[UTUSN]

14. I like the roast feel of these things!1

[elocs]

15. I'm an atheist and it doesn't bother me at all what people choose

or not choose to do in regards to having a funeral or not.
Some people and families need the closure and I can understand that. It's not that difficult.

[panader0]

16. Closure--at what cost to the taxpayer?

[cynatnite]

17. Most taxpayers won't care...

This is normal when a President passes away. It's as much for the country as it is for the family.

[elocs]

18. It will be normal when Jimmy Carter dies, and Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama as well.

Or is it only the state funerals for Republicans which is resented?