Should I Be Cremated?
Let’s talk about death today. Some people have already planned their funerals; I do not fall into that group. I am on the fence about what should happen when I go. Being brought up Jewish, cremation is forbidden. But I was just reading today about how cemeteries are running out of room for new bodies. I have been thinking about cremation as an environmentally and less expensive way to go. I went to a lecture on cremation at Forest Hills Cemetery in my neighborhood of Jamaica Plain, Mass. They even gave a tour of the crematory. It was fascinating! Anyway, I haven’t made a decision yet, but I’m leaning toward cremation. And you? How will you go when you go? Tell all.
See my related posts:
How to buy a coffin
Weird Wednesday: Cremation
October 1st, 2009 at 11:03 am
Cremation and scattering of ashes. No services. No grave. Just gone with the wind.
October 1st, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Cremation is my plan. Unless I find out you still feel pain when you die (a pessimist’s view of the afterlife) then all bets are off and I am going to encased in lime Jell-o.
October 1st, 2009 at 1:42 pm
dust thou art to dust returnest..
October 1st, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I’m donating my body to science! I always wanted to do it, but then I read Stiff by Mary Roach and I was sure of it. I just want to be useful after I die.
October 1st, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Cremation seems like a waste of perfectly good compost and a lot of energy to fire up the cooker. I opt for green burial, wrapped in unbleached linen or cotton (300-count would be sufficient).
On the other hand, in the locker room I once heard a woman say she wanted to be cremated then scattered at sea, conveyed in a boat rowed by two handsome shirtless young men.
October 1st, 2009 at 6:15 pm
The thought of worms and bacteria eating my flesh, bones, organs, hair etc……..nope. Cremation and spreading my ashes over my favorite beach sounds better. As if anything connected to death can sound better? However, I like that lime jello idea. A different mode of creme-ation. (couldn’t resist)
October 2nd, 2009 at 8:57 am
Thanks for posting your thoughts on this issue, Boomer Chronicles! It brings up an important issue we need to address: organ donation.
I’m opting for the greenest possible end: being recycled. I’m an organ and tissue donor, which means that when I die, any usable parts of my body will be donated to help others live, grow new skin, walk again, and see again. If there’s anything left over, that can be cremated.
Right now, if a person has not explicitly stated that she wishes to be an organ donor, the law assumes that she does not want to donate her organs. We have a de facto “opt in” system, which, gven how difficult states make it to designate organ donation, means that a lot of people who might donate their organs and tissue never do. It’s time to change the law to make it an “opt out” system — that is, unless you state otherwise, it is presumed that your organs will be donated.
Reduce, reuse, and recycle — and help save lives. What could be better!
October 2nd, 2009 at 10:42 am
So many generous folks here.
October 3rd, 2009 at 8:34 pm
I’m Jewish too and have been contemplating cremation. I don’t believe the living need to have a gravesite to visit. All too often they live a distance so the few times they may travel to the site really isn’t worth it to me. We did get plots but I wonder about using that speck of land for eternity. I’d feel better if cemeteries could become parks. It’d love people having a picnic above me! That’s a better use of space. How’s that for being indecisive?
October 4th, 2009 at 6:50 am
I’ve always been an organ donor type.
Back in 1979, my dad’s cornea’s went from Denver to Brooklyn to help a 70-something man see, and ever since then I realized how important it is.
I too have discovered this green burial thing and it makes sense to me to go back into the earth.
It’s like the book, The Tenth Good Thing About Barney.
October 4th, 2009 at 8:33 am
Susan, the picnic concept is fabulous!
October 4th, 2009 at 9:12 am
Actually, the green burial places that I have been looking at *are* like parks.
One place plants trees instead of headstones.
I will try to find the site.
I used to also think that the living do not need a place to focus, but I do like the sense of history, as well as sense of place, imparted by a cemetery.
October 5th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
MY WIFE and I decided a few years back to both be cremated. The most fun – such as there is in a discussion like this – was deciding where we would like our ashes scattered. I chose the softball field where I have played the majority of my games, specifically at first base. MY WIFE would have probably liked Filene’s, but now it’s gone. She hasn’t chosen a suitable replacement area yet, but I suspect it may be something similarly hard to accomplish as compared to a softball field