<FONT FACE=“Arial Narrow,Helvetica” COLOR="#008000">I was watching TV earlier, some old gov’t conspiracy movie of mom’s, and I was struck (so easy for me to be struck by ideas when I have a temp. of 103) at some funeral scene.
Say you’re not of a major religion…at all, as in either atheist or you made up your own religion to abide by for whatever reason, what do they do to bury you?
I don’t want to be buried, or burnt, or anything, but who would do the…burial session, where could you be buried, and what sort of little deal would they do to you?
(And, um, sorry if the html doesn’t work and makes everything look funky. I can’t remember exactly what to put, my thoughts are shot.)</FONT>
<font face=“symbol”>I was going to say something pithy and useful, but your choice of bogus HTML coding for your OP has left me no choice but to be useless instead.</font>
Snappy – if you’re not going to be buried or burnt, what do you think will happen to your body?
Gonna donate it for medical research?
Cryogenics?
I suspect that unless you specify something in advance, your family will take care of it for you.
My first husband didn’t belong to a church. When he died, the hospital contacted my local funeral home and we made arrangements for cremation. The ashes were sent to me in a cardboard box. We had a small memorial service for the family at the house. When the river thawed, we sprinkled him in it.
If we hadn’t had him cremated, I suppose we would have been able to bury him in a cemetery somewhere.
Well, in the U.S. you generally have to have your body disposed of in some fashion. Burial and cremation are the standard modes. You don’t have to have a service, the funeral director will be happy to skip that part if it’s not wanted, but you still need to arrange for the disposition of the remains.
If you’d like, you can always will your body to a med school for carving practice. I suppose you could direct them to get rid of the remains.
If, (rather than being opposed to making arrangements for the disposal of the body), you are opposed to burial and cremation, you are going to have some difficulties. You could try for a burial at sea, I guess. There was some discussion about the difficulties arranging that when JFK jr. died, but I didn’t pay much attention to the details. Honoring your kin the coyotes by flinging your remains into their territory is probably going to meet with resistance from more than one governmental agency.
So! What did you have in mind? And do we need to make the arrangements quickly, in light of your deteriorating health?
It’s really hard to surprise the local funeral home; they have already made arrangements for any situation you or I could dream up… Rest easy, go back on the couch and do what your mother says.
Oh, I’m gonna keep using these #%@&* codes 'til I get 'em right.
I’m not familiar with funerals whatsoever…but…what do they do with victims of really bad facial wounds? I mean if you get shot right in the face do they still just try to put make-up on it or what?
The only thing a nonconformist hates more than a conformist is another nonconformist who does not conform to the prevailing standards of nonconformity.
I wouldn’t being buried, just the cremation bothers me. Failing health I have, but I’m supposed to live long enough. Just gotta get some things replaced I bet by the time I’m 20, or at least have a happy wheelchair. Anyway, I was just wondering if they dump you into a hole and just say “Bye,” or something.
Oh, and is it possible to hire somebody clever to make an entertaining tombstone for you in a matter about how you died? Always hearing of these funny ones, just wanted one for myself, but I can’t design one until I know how I’m going to die.
And I have supposed they always tried to fix up the faces of the folk, maybe they use some plastic surgeon type guy? Just a guess.
When I was little, I just heard the term “cremate”, but no explaination of what it was. Then I was looking at my mom’s blender. One of the speed buttons said “Cream”. Cream…cremate!
So I thought that if you didn’t get buried, they would put you in a giant blender!
I looked in the mirror today/My eyes just didn’t seem so bright
I’ve lost a few more hairs/I think I’m going bald - Rush
Leave instructions in your will for how your family is to react. Tell them to throw a party, or whatever. Dump you in a hole and say good riddance. Read quotes from your favorite book. Reflect on the role you played in their lives and why they think you’re special.
If you want a pithy tombstone, you can make arrangements to buy now and they will write the appropriate stuff on it after you die. Put it in your will to hire Dave Berry to write it.
If there is facial damage, closed casket ceremonies are the norm. Often with a large picture to look at. Someone told me open casket ceremonies are primarily an American thing, and rather creepy anyway.
But I like the idea of bonding with your coyote brethren - get that approved on religious grounds.
That reminds me of a phone prank pulled by one of my hostel roommates (which he recorded and later played for our entertainment). He called up a crematorium and pretended to be a Chinese restaurant owner with very poor English. The guy on the other end of the line spent about ten minutes trying to explain to my roommate that NO, SIR, WE DO NOT SELL CREAM.
On the question of what do they do with people who have died with bad facial wounds: they probably have the funeral with the casket closed.
Frankly, that’s my personal pref anyhow… I hate that my last memory of a person is to see them looking so artificial and unreal, lying there in an open casket.
