I would like it if they removed all the headstones in a cemetary, put all the names and dates on a memorial wall, and opened up the place as a park.
You could then visit the park, pay respect to your loved ones at the wall, and then wander the grounds walking over the buried knowing your loved one is somewhere among them.
Cemeteries are beautiful to walk through; tombstones are a form of art, and it’s fascinating to see all the different kinds of headstones and memorial sculptures. I think of cemeteries as a vital part of history, and the idea of doing away with them because we don’t “need” them really bothers me.
We don’t need the Washington Monument; I guess we should just demolish it and put a Burger King there, right? We don’t need all that old junk in the Metropolitan Museum of Art; we should throw it all away and turn the building into a power plant, because some more energy is more important than stupid stuff like art.
Yes, we do need 'em. I remember a time when I was struggling with depression and having those ‘world is going down the tubes’ thoughts. Walking through the local cemetery and reading the dates and messages and the gravestones helped me to understand things in a historical context. Realizing that all of the individuals buried there had struggled to find their place in a changing world helped me to find mine. As for the notion that one’s great great great great great grandchildren probably won’t care about one’s grave, probably doesn’t mean certainly. Maybe they will.
In any case, the we are definitely not running short on space. In the continental United States alone, there is enough space for everyone on earth to life in a spacious McMansion and still have plenty of space left over for cemeteries, parks, golf courses, and everything else that we need. Letting George Carlin set public policy just isn’t a very good idea.
Stepping on the graves is a big no-no for many people. Whether it’s superstition or not, I’ve heard a lot of people tell me they’re deathly afraid of stepping on any grave that doesn’t belong to a family member or a friend.
If it were a family member’s grave, they would be dancing on it.
I feel a lot like this. My answer to the thread title would be, I guess, that we don’t need any MORE.
My sister was able to learn a lot of family history from a visit to an older cemetary in Clay County, MO. I like the historical aspect. None of my relatives that I’ve known in my lifetime are buried. We’re crematers. One set of my great grandparents are buried in an upstate NY town which was where they grew up in large families who didn’t reproduce at a replacement rate. Nobody related to them still lives there. My mom and sister visited their graves once about 5 years ago, but nobody else for years and years. It does seem a little wasteful. We’re also not typically big on funerals but I have been told that theirs were Masonic/Eastern Star funerals and were really quite lovely.
I’ve no strong views either way but they do act as a green "lung"in cities.
I think there is value to human society in reflecting on the impermanence of life and the enduring nature of memory and history. While cemetaries aren’t the only way to accomplish this, they are one way. Adopting an “out of sight, out of mind” attitude toward the dead isn’t necessarily healthy.
The idea that there is a shortage of space seems like a delusion born of spending all your time in the large coastal cities. Conceding that not everyone needs to live within an hour’s drive of the ocean, there’s plenty of space.
I’m assuming you live in the US or another large country with relatively low population density? I remember reading in the past the cemeteries can take up a lot of land in urban areas of countries with high population density (after all, most people who want to be buried probably want to have it done in an established cemetery near their relatives).
Multilevel burial plots proposed in Israel
Further information about Israel: "Given that most residents prefer to lay their loved ones to rest near their place of residence (even if this involves payment of a high fee to reserve burial plots), the shortage of cemetery space increases in direct proportion to the population density. In central Israel, where 70% of the countrys inhabitants reside, there is virtually no possibility of allocating additional burial plots. "
Vietnam may have problems because “the average land area for a living person in cities is 12sq.m while it is 50sq.m for a dead person. Several tombs in the central city of Hue are 600sq.m. Many people are worried that the dead are encroaching on the living.”
I was surprised to find out in Berlin that cemetary plots there were “rented”.
Unlike in the US where you bought it and it was yours, I guess, pretty much forever, over there land is at a premium, so you basically bought the rights for your plot for 10 or 15 years (I forget exactly, but that sounds right).
Families can elect to then rent for another 10 (or 15) years, but the idea is that if there is nobody around to take care of, and continue to pay rent for, your plot, then they will simply bury someone else there.
Seems sort of like a good idea - I mean, let’s be honest - who goes to visit dead relatives of 2 or 3 or more generations ago? Instead of some long fogotten relative taking up the space, might as well re-cycle the plot and use it for someone else. The exception, of course, is famous writers, artists, royalty, etc. Their graves remain…although who knows what will happen when people look and go, “Who’s that?”
And no, I don’t know what they do with the other coffin when the plot is re-rented.