Cremation over burial

[MuggsyB]

What about the Manatees?  They need your help!

That have been grossly mistreated and it beyond inexcusable.  Bur I prefer to bit more mobile and and athtetic than the mighty manatees. 

[Lennys Tap]

I'm with Willie Nelson - "Roll me up and smoke me when I die".

[real chili 83]

That have been grossly mistreated and it beyond inexcusable.  Bur I prefer to bit more mobile and and athtetic than the mighty manatees.

And Newsie might run you over with his yacht and make bacon out of you. 

[MuggsyB]

And Newsie might run you over with his yacht and make bacon out of you.

They're constantly under attack. 

[muwarrior69]

Does cremation have a larger carbon foot print than burial?

[ZiggysFryBoy]

I'm with Willie Nelson - "Roll me up and smoke me when I die".

Lenny, I'll roll the joints at meat summit XXXIII.

[pbiflyer]

I'm going to be stuffed and placed in the corner of my wife's bedroom. Hawaiian shirt, lei, sunglasses, party hat, posed with a jaunty wave of the hand. And those sneakers with wheels so it's easy to wheel me out for parties. 

[mu_hilltopper]

Not cremation, but my FIL is donating his body to a med school.   His father did the same.

He's had it set up for a while .. he contacts them every few years to make sure everything is in order.  I can only imagine the phone call at the other end:

"So, George, uh, how can I put this .. how you doing?  How's the ticker?  I mean, we've got a BIG class coming in and low inventory.  You eatin' right and exercising?  ...   Oh.  <sigh>"

[Spotcheck Billy]

during my senior year of HS a guy i was kinda freinds with died in a freak car wreck. At the funeral i was surprised to see that it was an open casket deal. The family just dressed him up in jeans and a badger hoodie. It was very unsettling to look at this cold corpse in sports gear. Since then i always leaned towards cremation. The idea if i passed suddenly my family would prop me in MU socks and a packer shirt, then stuff me with preservatives and put me in a coffin was always an awkward one. Spreading my ashes in nature always had some appeal to me. 

When my father passed a few years ago we had an open casket but he was still cremated and his ashes were actually buried probably because they had bought plots 40 years earlier.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Lenny, I'll roll the joints at meat summit XXXIII.

Twopack Scoopur?

[StillAWarrior]

I actually had a similar topic discussion with my wife a few weeks ago when we passed a cemetery near the first house I grew up in.  Its been there since well before I was born in the 80s, but its filled up EXTREMELY slowly and honestly looks like its hardly grown in occupancy at all. 

Which then pivoted to my Grandfather who passed away a few years ago.  He was cremated at his request, which seemed interesting for a very staunch and traditional Catholic.  But a large reasoning was he was to be laid to rest in Sheboygan where he grew up and lived the majority of his life, but he was a full time resident of Florida in his later years and didn't want his family to bear the expense of transporting his body.  Ashes is far easier and cheaper.  Ever pragmatic and prudent, even in death 

But the psychology of it, as bolded, was interesting.  I know some people like to have the whole open casket and body presented for "closure" but I didn't feel myself lacking in that during his memorial service.  I had heavy heart and significant emotions stepping into his home office in Florida for the first time after he was gone.  Or looking at pictures of us, etc...  But there was none of the soul crushing brutality which sometimes goes along with a traditional funeral/wake with a lifeless body of a loved one present.  And it was kind of freeing.  I don't feel like I missed something or needed more, but I was able to focus on the best times and grieve in my own way, without the request morbid dread/sadness during a funeral/burial/etc...

This is an interesting subject...and one I've been thinking about an awful lot over the past year and a half. I lost my brother in November 2020 and my father this past December. Neither had an open casket. I was very happy about this and, frankly, might have stayed out of the room if there had been an open casket. I really don't like it. My mother said to me that for a couple decades after her mother's death, whenever she thought of her mother the visual that flooded her mind was the open casket. I wanted to avoid that. My preference will be to not have an open casket, but I do understand that some people feel that they "need" that for closure. I think it's sensible to have a provision that would allow that for a very limited group of people who feel they "need" it (e.g., spouse, children, siblings, and parents...but nobody else) and then closed for everyone else.

My brother was cremated and interred in a cemetery. My father was buried in the same cemetery maybe 75 yards away. It actually was a bit of a coincidence as my father had purchased his plot many years earlier. I think I would prefer cremation. It's much cheaper and I see no reason to not do it. Burial is extremely expensive and, I think, wasteful. I think I prefer some of the family cremation monuments I've seen as opposed to just being another slot in a wall.

I heard a podcast recently on human composting as a new alternative. I find it intriguing.

[MU82]

This is an interesting subject...and one I've been thinking about an awful lot over the past year and a half. I lost my brother in November 2020 and my father this past December. Neither had an open casket. I was very happy about this and, frankly, might have stayed out of the room if there had been an open casket. I really don't like it. My mother said to me that for a couple decades after her mother's death, whenever she thought of her mother the visual that flooded her mind was the open casket. I wanted to avoid that. My preference will be to not have an open casket, but I do understand that some people feel that they "need" that for closure. I think it's sensible to have a provision that would allow that for a very limited group of people who feel they "need" it (e.g., spouse, children, siblings, and parents...but nobody else) and then closed for everyone else.

My brother was cremated and interred in a cemetery. My father was buried in the same cemetery maybe 75 yards away. It actually was a bit of a coincidence as my father had purchased his plot many years earlier. I think I would prefer cremation. It's much cheaper and I see no reason to not do it. Burial is extremely expensive and, I think, wasteful. I think I prefer some of the family cremation monuments I've seen as opposed to just being another slot in a wall.

I heard a podcast recently on human composting as a new alternative. I find it intriguing.

A belated condolences for your losses, SAW.

There's no "right" or "wrong" on any of this. It's such a personal experience for the survivors.

After my dad died, we did it similar to the way you described. The casket was opened only briefly, and only for immediate family who wanted to see him one last time. That seemed the best way to let all survivors get what they felt they needed out of the experience.

[Skatastrophy]

My wife's family does the open casket thing. It usually doesn't even really look like the person. When you've passed all of your muscles are completely relaxed so your face looks different. I'd prefer to remember my time with them rather than needing to see the body. It may be that I grew up with closed casket funerals & cremations. Tradition can really take hold when it comes to death rituals.

I heard a podcast recently on human composting as a new alternative. I find it intriguing.

Interesting to think about. Practically, that's a lot of meat to compost. I think it would be easier to use ash as a soil amendment, like one of those tree urns.

[StillAWarrior]

My wife's family does the open casket thing. It usually doesn't even really look like the person. When you've passed all of your muscles are completely relaxed so your face looks different. I'd prefer to remember my time with them rather than needing to see the body. It may be that I grew up with closed casket funerals & cremations. Tradition can really take hold when it comes to death rituals.

Interestingly enough, most of my experience and tradition has been open casket. As I said above, I strongly prefer closed. Even when they do a really "good" job preparing the body, it just doesn't look "right". And I was well into adulthood before I was aware of anyone I knew being cremated, and I prefer that also.

Interesting to think about. Practically, that's a lot of meat to compost. I think it would be easier to use ash as a soil amendment, like one of those tree urns.

I was shocked to hear how quickly it happens -- they say six to eight weeks.

[MUBurrow]

[Uncle Rico]

I want a lavish and expensive funeral.  I want at least two dozen keynote speakers and praised between sobs and tears.  It would be good if I was displayed in public like former Soviet leaders for billions to visit yearly to pay their respects.  Most importantly, I want a note that says "He never lost and argument on Scoop" to be prominently displayed

[tower912]

I want a lavish and expensive funeral.  I want at least two dozen keynote speakers and praised between sobs and tears.  It would be good if I was displayed in public like former Soviet leaders for billions to visit yearly to pay their respects.  Most importantly, I want a note that says "He never lost and argument on Scoop" to be prominently displayed

With the typo?

[Uncle Rico]

With the typo?

Yes

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Never seen such a sorry bunch of quitters in my life. Just don't die!

[ZiggysFryBoy]

I want a lavish and expensive funeral.  I want at least two dozen keynote speakers and praised between sobs and tears.  It would be good if I was displayed in public like former Soviet leaders for billions to visit yearly to pay their respects.  Most importantly, I want a note that says "He never lost and argument on Scoop" to be prominently displayed

Put me down for 2 bits for the Rico is reeko party fund.

[brewcity77]

As much as this is a joke, it's the truth. I'll be dead, who cares? Feed me to the worms, grind my bones to make bread, burn me up, or stick me in the ground, it won't make no nevermind to me.

[MU82]

As much as this is a joke, it's the truth. I'll be dead, who cares? Feed me to the worms, grind my bones to make bread, burn me up, or stick me in the ground, it won't make no nevermind to me.

Funerals, memorials and such are not for the dead, they're for the living.

My brother visiting our parents' gravesites isn't for our parents, it's for him. It's not something I want to do or feel a need to do, but I get why he does it.

But yes, I really don't care much what happens to my body after I'm gone except that I do hope being registered as an organ donor can help others. I'm not claiming to be noble in that regard; I know that many Scoopers also have signed up to be donors.

[BrewCity83]

My girlfriend is a registered organ donor.  Beyond that, she wants her remains to be fed to the wolves in the wild.  And she's dead serious about that. 

Not sure how to convince the organ harvesters that it's OK to release her gutted corpse back to her family to get this plan executed... 

[lawdog77]

Funerals, memorials and such are not for the dead, they're for the living.

My brother visiting our parents' gravesites isn't for our parents, it's for him. It's not something I want to do or feel a need to do, but I get why he does it.

But yes, I really don't care much what happens to my body after I'm gone except that I do hope being registered as an organ donor can help others. I'm not claiming to be noble in that regard; I know that many Scoopers also have signed up to be donors.

<Puts on tin foil hat> Careful announcing you are an organ donor, the paramedics will take the long route to the hospital if you are in an ambo. They get paid to get organ donations <Takes off tin foil hat>

[pbiflyer]

<Puts on tin foil hat> Careful announcing you are an organ donor, the paramedics will take the long route to the hospital if you are in an ambo. They get paid to get organ donations <Takes off tin foil hat>

Actually.....
https://youtu.be/Sp-pU8TFsg0