Who wants to be put in a casket when they die?

[madmunchie]

My husband and I were talking one evening, and he thought that it was against the Catholic Church to be cremated. I told him, more importantly there are other things to consider, like: what a waste of land just to be put into a expensive fancy box and to be put in the ground for ....God knows how long.... For once he actually listened to me and now he wants to be cremated.

I don't even go to cemeteries - unless it is for a funeral of someone close to the us (out of respect for the people that arranged the services)...the people that have passed aren't there, there is just a bunch of expensive headstones, fancy boxes and rotting carcasses.

[terrya]

1. I'm being creamated.

I do not, under any circumstances, want a burial.

[MissB]

2. Cremation.

Preserving of a body strikes me as odd (and yeah, it is just mho)

[Lone_Star_Dem]

3. My will says I'm to be cremated.

It has always seemed the best solution to body disposal to me.

[Wilms]

4. Green burial may be an idea.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_burial

[Vexatious Ape]

5. The funeral industry is a racket.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. In some Native American traditions, your body would be left up in trees to be

returned to nature. I think zoning laws frown on this ritual these days.

[az chela]

11. Actually the birds ate it

[no_hypocrisy]

52. You're right. I heard it was mostly vultures. I like the idea of your body

perpetuating life in another form instead of indefinitely taking up space in the earth.

[Kutjara]

85. The Tibetans have the Sky Burial, which is...

...very similar. There are clans that specialize in preparing the bodies (cleansing them, praying for them, chopping them up into more convenient pieces) and placing them on high mountains so vultures can carry the deceased away to the next incarnation.

[nosmokes]

62. that's what i wanted, just being left out in the woods to feed

whoever. of course that was illegal and subject to hefty fines for surviving family so then i figured i'd just have some fisherman friends of mine drop my dead ass over the side about 60 miles off the coast, let the sharks and the crabs have it. you wouldn't believe how illegal that is! FCOL, what's the big deal?

[me b zola]

64. Leagal shmeagal

Mr Zola wants his body to feed the earth and wants me to leave his body in the woods by a large boulder for a head stone. I want to return to/feed the sea, so like your second idea, Mr Zola is going to take my body out to sea and throw me over-board.

Of course we realize that probably only one of us will get our burial wish because we would hate to put the legal problems on other family members, although I'm fairly certain that my son would carry out our wishes for us.

Who would have thought that I'd run into someone who shared the same burial ideas as we have! :hi:

[nosmokes]

83. oh, i think we're far from the only ones!

i mean how weird is it to wanna be filled with preservatives and put in an overpriced box and then into a concrete lined hole in the ground? that's q lotta energy for something that could be put to use feeding a family of scavengers, be they furred, finned or featherd.;)

[NotGivingUp]

7. never cared for the idea...it all seems so ridiculous.

and i've always felt like you in that it's a terrible waste of land. felt like that since i was a kid.

[mondo joe]

8. I want to be cremated and have my ashes shoved down the throat of a fundamentalist

preacher till he suffocates.

[az chela]

12. best answer yet

[NotGivingUp]

27. that's a good one!!!!

[az chela]

9. creamation!!!!!!!!

Ashes to ashes

[TahitiNut]

10. Hefty bag and curbside pick-up.

:shrug: I'll have no immediate family at that point so it's likely to be only after someone notices the stench and breaks in to find my carcass rotting on top of my keyboard.

[madmunchie]

13. Not the recycle bin?

[TahitiNut]

46. Nope. No plastic, metal, or paper in my carcass. Yet.

Now, my mother... She was a teenager in the Depression. She holds onto stuff because it's "too good to throw away." She donates stuff to the Salvation Army because it's "too good to throw away." (They probably throw it away.) She made an anatomical 'gift' to the University - so they get her body when she dies. She's 87. So...

When I have to send them her body, it'll be with a note attached:
"Too good to throw away."
:rofl:

[malaise]

43. But what a way to go

Maybe if Skinner discovers that you're still logged on after three days, DUers might find you first. :D

[blues90]

14. No box for me

I want to be taken directly from the spot I drop right to the fire with as little cost as possible .

[bluewave]

15. I don't think a god cares how your corpse is treated.

I will be cremated and scattered to the winds. Or maybe cryogenics if it's better by then.

[Kerry fan]

16. It may have been against the Catholic Church

at some time. But, I don't think it is anymore. I know Catholics who have been cremated and who are planning to be cremated.

[Journeyman]

28. Catholic Church permits cremation these days, but. . .

the ashes must be interred at a Catholic Cemetary for the service to be Catholic-sanctioned.

[Turbineguy]

51. Cremation is not

against the rules anymore. But Vatican guidelines prohibit scattering ashes so you should bury the ashes or get a place in a columbarium. My wife is catholic and I researched this.

[Blue_In_AK]

17. Cremating for me.

I only go to cemeteries for cool pictures.

[onecent]

41. Awesome picture. n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

44. This is the cemetery in Biloxi.

Much damaged by Katrina, but wonderful for atmosphere.

[Puglover]

58. I want my tombstone to be just like this

:evilgrin:

[TroglodyteScholar]

18. Pinebox, pls n/t

[wakeme2008]

19. I like the Neptune Society

http://www.neptunesociety.com/

[classof56]

63. I have a cremation policy through Neptune.

Spouse and I decided to do the prepaid cremation arrangements several years ago after spouse's sibling died unexpectedly without any instructions as to final wishes. Funerals, coffins, burial plots, etc. are obscenely expensive (sorry if that sounds crass). Neptune handles everything once contacted following a death, and will even transport the ashes beyond the three mile limit to scatter them over the ocean if that's what we want. We also have advanced directives and living wills in place regarding what our offspring are to do if we're unable to make our own decisions. This may not be for everyone, but works for us. My life-long fundie Baptist mother even agreed to be cremated following her death and I placed her ashes in my father's grave. If her beliefs are correct, her soul will be reunited with her body at the resurrection, no matter if the body has been reduced to ashes. I had a graveside service for her in accordance with her wishes, complete with scripture verses read by family members, but my wishes are to have no service whatsover. There are many ways to honor those who precede us on death's journey.

Peace and blessings!

[Skidmore]

20. Bless all those who have buried and marked graves over the

centuries for they make the lives of geneologists so much easier.

O8)

[Warpy]

21. Fry my shell when I'm done with it

After that, I really don't care. Compost? Landfill?

It doesn't matter.

Just let my friends know I've become part of the earth and sky. That's enough.

Should their ever be a chance of being dumped into the earth wrapped in a simple cloth, I'd take that, too. It's a little more environmentally friendly.

I just don't want a box to confine me and prevent me from becoming part of the earth. I don't want a headstone. I'll leave that to the ego driven and the people who still cling to the hope their bodies will be resurrected.

[sarge43]

22. Cremation and either

fertilize my rose garden or FedEx down to Arlington.

[katsy]

23. Or one could be very stylish and wear their loved one.

For a price of course.

http://www.lifegem.com/secondary/LGPrices2006.aspx


:shrug:

[NotGivingUp]

24. compost seems the most natural way

[anniebelle]

25. Donate to science.

There's a great place called MedCure. I signed up last year. They take care of everything and maybe I'll be useful for something.

[Homer Wells]

29. Why should I care??

When I am finished using up this old body, and am finally released from it, they can stuff and mount the husk if that is what they want. Hell, that might be the best idea yet.

Like the old country song goes:
"Prop me up against the juke box when i die"

:evilgrin:

[babylonsister]

37. That's what my uncle did; his ashes were returned to the family when

they were done with the research, or whatever they did with him.

[tammywammy]

57. I'm also to be donated to science

There's too much of a need for cadavers for science. And I don't care if it's for general anatomy in a medical school, used as a dummy or for plastic surgery. :)

I just hope that my body can help someone else learn.

[hippywife]

103. My husband and I have done the same.

I do want a memorial service tho because I want all the music I love played for folks to listen to.

[TexasProgresive]

26. Hubby is wrong

But the Catholic Church doesn't do anything to encourge it. The official rule is that you cannot have the "cremains" at the funeral mass. They want the uncremated body at the Mass. This basically does away with the financial reasons for cremation because no one in this country is going to display a body without a coffin.

However many pastors will just look the other way. My Dad wished to be cremated and we had his grandsons carry a wooden box containing his ashes into the church and had a Mass of the Resurrection for him. It went well and the pastor thought the whole thing was perfect.

Since there was no viewing we set up a display of pictures and his military honors the night before for the vigil and rosary. It will be 2 years ago tomorrow that he died and people still comment, positively on the vigil and funeral Mass.

[flordehinojos]

30. a catholic priest i know, once made a friend cry because her husband had been cremated, his ashes

spread on the ocean and the priest told my friend the man could not be resurrected !!!! on the other hand, another ordained roman catholic priest, hindu by birth, said it was beyond his comprehension how the God who created us could not, on resurrection day, gather our ashes from wherever they were and resurrect us for final judgment.

for me, cremation and my ashes spread,not even kept in an urn.

[tridim]

31. Is there a Ralph's around here?

[Generic Brad]

97. That Folgers can sure looks like Steve Buschemi

Does anyone else see the resemblance?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

32. You can put be in a bag of Doritos for all I care.

It's not like I'll feel discomfort or anything. Whatever my family wishes.

[patrice]

33. Wrap me in a sheet, put me in a hole, cover me with dirt and

plant some trees.

[babylonsister]

34. I don't think it's against the Catholic church anymore either; my mil

wants to be cremated, and she used to be a heavy-duty practicing Catholic. She's also been known to say she doesn't care what happens to her ashes and mentions toilet bowls. :shrug:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

35. Cremation for both of us is already arranged.

Neptune Society.

[MADem]

36. I went to a Catholic service recently where the deceased was in an urn

They changed the rule in 1963. Fire it up!

http://www.cathcemchgo.org/cremation.htm

[ContraBass Black]

38. Not my problem.

:)

[LeftyMom]

39. My understanding is that the Church has lightened up on cremation

though they still encourage intact burial. My grandfather was a lifelong Catholic with very traditional old country values (he was born in Hungary at the turn of the last century) and chose cremation. As far as I know, nobody in the Church batted an eye.

I avoid cemetaries, too. My grandmother had a very nice graveside service when her ashes were laid next to her late husband at a tiny little frontier cemetary on a cliff in one of those parts of Nevada that's just beautiful in that way that only empty bits of desert can be. We sang amazing grace, we talked about her life, then we went to the senior center where she and her friends would socialize in their tiny little town and had lunch and visited some more. That was nice, but the urban ones are so sterile and an enormous waste of space.

PS It's only tangentially related, but they want to ship in the Yucca Mountain nuke waste at most 50 yards away from my grandmother's grave. :(

[Annces]

40. You could be put in a sled and pushed off a mountain precipice

That is what the ancient Lapps did.

[malaise]

42. Cremation for me

with my ashes scattered in the sea near my favourite beach.

[saskatoon]

45. Just in Case

JUST IN CASE

I don’t want to be scattered on the ocean’s waves
Nor over the mountains or plains
I want to know where my bony parts are
So they can easily be reframed.
So bury me on the lonely prairie
Or next to a busy street mall
Just be sure I’m a package deal
And bury me totally all
….just in case!

I don’t want to be scattered by the wind
Dumped out of an airplane
A little bit here, a little bit there
That’s a hell of a way to end.
I want to lie calm in my satin bed
All of me in complete repose
Where I can rest and cogitate
Dolled up in my Sunday clothes
….just in case!

So don’t scatter me on no ocean waves
A snack for sturgeon and cod
I want to look nice all in one piece
In case I meet up with God….ha!
That malarkey about heavenly music
Angels singing eight to the bar?
Well hey, I’m a sucker for singalongs
So bury me with my old guitar
….just in case!

© 2003 by Grace M. Stevenson
[e-mail]

[eppur_se_muova]

47. Um, why wait? ('toon--the middle one)

[hashibabba]

48. A green burial sounds like an excellent idea. And I would love

the idea of being mulch! Right now my plans are to be cremated and if someone gets around to it, spread my ashes over the ocean. Of course, I'm like TahitiNut. My body will probably have disintegrated by the time someone finds me dead!

This thing with some Christians thinking they have to be buried whole--just how small is their god? He can't put together some ashes and make a person whole again?

[no_hypocrisy]

54. Lee Hayes (of The Weavers) had his ashes sprinkled over his compost

heap as designated in his Will.

[lonestarnot]

49. Dust to dust, ashes to ashes.

And Native Americans used to, don't know if they do it any more, but they used to put dead bodies on a tall hammock thing and that was it.

[Blue_Tires]

50. two words: Soylent Green

BABY!!!!!


but seriously, a viking funeral pyre would be cool enough

[judaspriestess]

53. cremation

My mom originally wanted a big catholic funeral but now she says to hell with it, just cremate me.

[blues90]

55. if they keep playing around with Iran we may not need

To worry about cremation , we will be vaporized .

[michreject]

56. Organ donation

and then cremation. I don't need them. Why take them with me?

[TheCowsCameHome]

59. Cremated and scattered in to the ocean.

[Bluebear]

60. Fire always scared me, no cremation for me. nt

[Skittles]

90. um PT

you're DEAD honey :)

[misternormal]

61. Natural, or Green burial is a good idea... why line someone's pockets??

Here are some links for information on natural burial

http://naturalburial.org/
http://www.naturalburial.ca/
http://www.forestofmemories.org/natural_burial.htm

[Coventina]

65. Just FYI: Cremation contributes to air pollution.

I was all for cremation until I learned that.

Now I'm in favor of that new Swedish method of being turned into compost.

[ldf]

89. that is the most pleasing option so far, only costly.

i believe that the new, environmentally positive swedish method is the basic freeze drying, which removes all moisture, then, essentially, vibrating you into dust form, which is then used as compost around a tree.

i certainly will NOT be buried, in a casket, to stretch the rotting period from years into decades, nor do i like the thought of being eaten by all the little vermin. cremation will happen before that. and there will not be any costly, useless "processing". burn me within 24 hours. no embalming, ripping out of guts, just burning.

however, i do not like the thought of burning.

yeah, i know, i won't be here, nor know what is happening.

it's just one of those things.

the swedish method sounds acceptable.

too bad i can't afford it, nor is it available here.

[Left Is Write]

66. I do go to cemeteries. Those expensive headstones are more than just that -

they are a memorial to someone's life. I like the serenity of walking through a cemetery, stopping to read the headstones and wonder about the life of the person noted there. I like the tangible link to human past and present.

I don't know what I want done with myself. I suppose cremation is the best way.

[hickman]

79. Me too. I love the connection to the past.

Maybe it's just me but when I go to my parents graves I feel closer to them. In the spring I'm going to my Great grand parents graves. I never knew them.

[texanwitch]

67. Not me.

When the time comes just cremate me, and spread the ashes on my land in the country.

Plant a tree for me to, at the same spot.

[Broken_Hero]

68. Not me,

cremation, all the way....

[thefool_wa]

69. I totally agree

Cemeteries are the greatest waste of real estate in the world. What's more, the amount of money people put into planting their dead loved ones in the ground is disgusting to the point of seeming criminal.

I've told my wife (in all seriousness) that I want a Jedi burial. I want to be laid on a pyre of logs and burned until there is nothing but ash and then I want the ash raked into the earth. I would really like for this to be under a tree, but a tree could be planted after the fact. Stone memorial is optional.

Of course, this is dependent on us owning our own property when I die (so not for some time hopefully). More immediate plans just involve cremation and a temporary resting place until she owns property then I want to be raked into the earth under a tree there with, again, a memorial being optional.

I am a catholic, converted from pagan, and this satisfies all of my internal spiritual obligations :)

[edbermac]

70. I don't plan on dying.

:7

[thefool_wa]

71. Good luck with that!

:thumbsup:

[SeattleGirl]

72. I want to be cremated.

Have no desire to be shut up in a box.

[edbermac]

73. Claustrophobic?

;)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

74. No caskets for this chickie!

I hate the idea of getting mouldy! :puke:

I want to be cremated, and my ashes into the Pacific ocean, along with my grandparents....and most likely, my parents too, by then......

And if it is at all possible, I want to donate my organs first....

That's part of my advanced directive!

:hi:

[WinkyDink]

75. I do, and I ain't apologizing for it.

[reyd reid reed]

76. It might be an unpopular choice, but mine is a non-choice.

The final arrangements are more for the family than the person who died, so whatever makes them comfortable or feel better or whatever. I don't think I'm going to care much one way or another when the time comes....

:shrug:

[madmunchie]

94. That really isn't a good idea, since they will (hopefully) be very upset

when the time comes for you to pass. Leaving this decision on them might burden them for years to come.... "Did they make the right decision...or didnt' they? It is best to make your wishes known, so that you will make it easier for those left behind to tie up loose ends. I personally would not feel as though it is right to leave that type of decision to someone else...you really don't know who will be making that decision now do you? so therefore, you don't know how heavily the decision will weigh on them.

[FedUpWithIt All]

77. Nude body in the ground...

is my preference.

[Digit]

78. Cremated like my mother and father.

I had an uncle related only by marriage who was one of those "funny" uncles.
Oh, and he was a funeral director...it makes my head explode to think what he did in his off time.

[crim son]

80. I want to be cremated

and it's yet another reason my Catholic MIL thinks I'm damned to hell. The modern Church may have changed it's mind about cremation but she sure hasn't. If my husband died before she did and I was responsible for the body I'd have a tremendous fight on my hands because he wants to be cremated too.

[BarenakedLady]

81. I want to be cremated

After they take anything from me that can be used for others.

[seemunkee]

82. I'm not sure anymore

I can go to a cemetary in my hometown and visit the graves of my parents, grandparents, great granparents, and great great grandparents as well as numerous aunts, uncles, etc. It makes me think I would like that place my children and grand children can go to, but I hate the idea of wasting the land. I don't believe there is any reason to preserve my body. I should probably figure this out and let my family know ahead of time.

[LibraLiz1973]

84. I want to be cremated

after they take any of my organs that can be helpful.

Then I want to be buried at my churches columbarium (tiny little garden where the ashes are buried, there is a small stone and marble wall with small name plaques on it)- it is where my grandmother is... and someday the rest of my family I guess.

[wildhorses]

86. i will walk into the woods and lie down under this oak tree that i

have already picked out. i will die there and no one will find me. my body will decompose or get picked by buzzards or whatever--nature will take its course--the circle of life

[FedUpWithIt All]

93. I agree...

I feel the same way.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

87. Well, it would be a little more dignified than a Hefty lawn and leaf bag.

And I don't think being stuffed and mounted is legal. And now that I think of it, what's more likely is that I'll flop over dead at home, and after a day or two the cats will eat me.

[Liberal Veteran]

88. I want to be mummified and sealed in a room in a giant pyramid built in my honor.

:D

[LuckyTheDog]

91. Cremation for me

And then dumped in the Detroit River. That might be illegal. But I'll leave money to pay the fine. ;-)

[Kutjara]

92. I want to be cremated and have my ashes spread...

...over someone I hate.

I know this post is similar to mondo joe's above, but I've been saying this for about twenty years now to anyone who'll listen, so I feel entitled.

[NoPasaran]

95. No thanks

Viking funeral for me!

[EstimatedProphet]

96. I want a Viking funeral

Boat, lake, flaming arrows, the whole bit.

[reyd reid reed]

98. Best idea I've heard yet.

:thumbsup:

[Parrcrow]

99. I just hope they wait 'til I'm dead.

[Book Lover]

100. I sure do

Someday I'll be able to expand the family land enough to have a little mausoleum section built; I'd like to be put in a niche in the wall. Maybe we'll rest ourselves in ossaries...

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

101. Converted to Soylent Green

with the epitaph "Bite Me"

Bon voyage and bon apetit.

It's a "recycling thing".

[Nikia]

102. I probably will

Tradition and everything.