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What do you want to happen to your remains after you die?
For the past century, most Americans have accepted a limited set of options without question. And discussions of death and funeral plans have been taboo.
That is changing. As a scholar of funeral and cemetery law, I've discovered that Americans are becoming more willing to have a conversation about their own mortality and what comes next and embrace new funeral and burial practices.
Baby boomers are insisting upon more control over their funeral and disposition so that their choices after death match their values in life. And businesses are following suit, offering new ways to memorialize and dispose of the dead.
While some options such as Tibetan sky burial – leaving human remains to be picked clean by vultures – and "Viking" burial via flaming boat – familiar to "Game of Thrones" fans – remain off limits in the U.S., laws are changing to allow a growing variety of practices.
Hmm, vitrification with a motion sensor-activated coffin such that passersby trigger my corpse to sit up and ask, "Is it time to make the donuts?"
Previously: "Water Cremation" (Alkaline Hydrolysis): Environmentally Friendly Disposal of Dead Bodies
(Score: 5, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Saturday October 28 2017, @02:05PM (2 children)
I've noticed a lot of complaining about the funeral industry doing all it can to drive up their profits no matter what it costs the bereaved and society. They shame families into spending more money to honor their dead, right after the medical community shamed and pressured them into taking excessive measures to keep them living as long as possible and finally lost that battle. All part of business doing all they can to bury (no pun intended) all thought and knowledge of self-reliant, inexpensive remedies, even outlawing them, in favor of encouraging dependence on expensive services. Buy that gym membership to have someplace to drive to get exercise, as if public parks are invisible or non-existent, and heaven forbid you walk or jog to the gym, that's so low class, won't impress the opposite sex with your wealth. But don't clean house yourself thereby getting some pretty good exercise, hire a maid service!
Of course it's not just the US. Seems that in Australia, cemetery plots can't be owned, they can only be rented for 50 years. A few years ago, upon the approaching 50th anniversary of the death of my grandfather who is buried in Australia, my mother received a letter warning us that if we did not renew the lease, they would remove his grave marker if any and bury someone else on top of him. As if Australia, one of the least densely populated nations in the world, has a shortage of land. It can't have been easy for them to find us, with the change of last name, many changes of residence in those 50 years, and citizenship, but seems the rental money they wanted to charge was strong motivation. We know a shakedown when we see it, and ignored the letter.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 29 2017, @12:09AM (1 child)
Citation?
IIRC doctors and other medical professionals typically do not recommend or opt into most end of life care for themselves or those close to them. Meanwhile, "normal" people scream about "death panels" that try to bring up the possibility that excessive measures might be excessive or that it might be a good idea to plan for treatments failing.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Sunday October 29 2017, @05:12AM
Citation: Dr. Jack Kevorkian.