Cremation or Burial?

[WildBill]

Cremation for me.

When you pass away I will say a silent prayer and say R.I.P. Abraham.

[ShootDontTalk]

After I retired, the wife decided she didn't need me sitting around the house and suggested I get a part time job. Of all the jobs in the world, (I could have worked at WalMart), I started working for a funeral home. Absolutely the worst job on earth! Besides the.....er....uhm...clients, there was the unbelievably low pay. Even the funeral directors got peanuts. But boy did I learn a thing or two.

Caskets - cheapies cost $2000 and the funeral home buys them for $300. The $10,000 mahogany ones cost a whole $3000. Of course, you wouldn't want to dishonor your dear departed by putting them in a Kia....no sireee. Only the best will do. You can take it home and put it in your living room.

Embalming - the "snake oil" of the funeral industry. They tell every single living person their departed loved one will need those uber-expensive chemicals or they'll decompose in a Yankee minute. The state requires it. Yada, yada, yada. Absolute lie. I won't go into details, but I'll let you do some research.

Cremation - "Why, did you know your church will excommunicate you if you have your loved one cremated?" I had several interesting discussions with funeral home employees about the theologogical implications of cremation versus burial. Most ran along the lines of "Did you know God won't be able to find all the little bits of you if you're cremated?" Interesting limitation for One who spoke the worlds into existence.

Burial plots - fancy word for a hole in the ground. Did you know that after they bury you they might run out of space in that lovely little tree shaded plot, so they'll start burying other people on top of you? Good luck figuring out who you'll be under for 1000 years!

Flowers - Lord above, do I ever hate flowers. Have you ever moved 100 of those stupid things from a funeral home to a church in a dress suit when the temperature outside is over 100 degrees? That and after doing all that to still smell shower-fresh for the funeral?

Trust me don't ever work in a funeral home.

[jimlongley]

Wow--we do cover some ground on this forum. Cremation for me. I was in the 3rd Infantry (The Old Guard) for a number of years and participated in the funerals of over 200 soldiers and their family members. I never saw anyone cry at a funeral where the deceased had been cremated.

My grandfather, Brigadier General Elmer Forrest Wallender is buried in Arlington, Section 5 Plot 2, and my grandmother joined him 17 years later, in an urn.

The family could not get together on a date to go inter "Nan" so my mother and aunt finally decided to just do it themselves and the rest of the family could pound salt.

My father was concerned about them carrying the urn, so he wrapped it up in a box labeled "Electronics Parts" and sealed with duct tape. When my mother and aunt arrived at Ft Myer, where they had been stationed as kids, so they knew the drill, more or less, they proceeded to the burial detail office and were assigned their pall bearer and honor guard and turned over the box containing the urn. It wasn't until after the interment was long over and they were on their way home that they began to wonder if anyone thought to take Nan's urn out of the box. My grandmother is buried in Arlington Cemetery in an electronics parts box.

[baldeagle]

I'm going to donate my body to the Southeast Texas body farm at Sam Houston State University. The cost for my demise will be zero. East Texas State will come pick up my body, and it doesn't even have to be embalmed.

[viking1000]

Cremation for me, I had my dog cremated a week ago, it was like loosing my right arm, when I go, I will be cremated and mixed with my dogs ashes. The ashes will be taken to the Sea off the coast of Sweden.
I think of poor King Richard, who was buried in a church yard, that became a parking lot, only to be dug up to make room for a high rise.

[SA_Steve]

I'm going to donate my body to the Southeast Texas body farm at Sam Houston State University. The cost for my demise will be zero. East Texas State will come pick up my body, and it doesn't even have to be embalmed.

Is that kinda like the towers in India where the buzzards do the recycling work ?

[baldeagle]

I'm going to donate my body to the Southeast Texas body farm at Sam Houston State University. The cost for my demise will be zero. East Texas State will come pick up my body, and it doesn't even have to be embalmed.

Is that kinda like the towers in India where the buzzards do the recycling work ?

Could be buzzards, or raccoons or flies or slugs or prairie dogs or coyotes or a host of other possibilities. Won't matter to me. Once I've been reduced to a pile of bones, they'll collect them all, clean them up and store them for further research. So I'll be contributing to better crime detection long after I'm gone.

[mrvmax]

Cremation, funerals today are a waste of money and they prey on the grieving. If I die before Christ returns I want to be resurrected from ashes!

[Taypo]

Wow--we do cover some ground on this forum. Cremation for me. I was in the 3rd Infantry (The Old Guard) for a number of years and participated in the funerals of over 200 soldiers and their family members. I never saw anyone cry at a funeral where the deceased had been cremated.

I was on burial detail for a while at Ft Lewis back in the day with a really good group of guys, one of the biggest honors of my career. We didnt do the number that you Old Guard guys did but I remember the same thing - the cremation funerals were nowhere near as somber and bleak.

Some of the burials, however...the detail usually ended up in tears with the rest of the family.

[Oldgringo]

I'm going to donate my body to the Southeast Texas body farm at Sam Houston State University. The cost for my demise will be zero. East Texas State will come pick up my body, and it doesn't even have to be embalmed.

Sounds like a plan to me.

[b322da]

Having turned 80 a couple of months ago, I have a contract with a local funeral home for the immediate cremation of my remains, and those of my wife of almost 60 years, regardless of who goes first, followed by the transportation of the urn or urns to the Arlington National Cemetery, with the funeral home working personally with the staff at Arlington to see to their militarily-dignified inurnment there in a columbarium near the urns of the wife's parents. The funeral home will coordinate with both Arlington and the military service from which I am retired. I have provided the funeral home with an obituary, including a photo, for both my wife and myself, which they will publish in newspapers selected by us.

For this contract, and the peace of mind it gives us, I paid what I consider a most reasonable cost. No expense or hassle of any kind to our survivors, as it happens automatically. Our potential survivors are aware of our action, they understand and approve.

Had we desired we could have also provided for a public or private religious service of our choice before the transportation of the remains to Arlington.

Being located in a "military town" the local funeral home has handled such arrangements with Arlington and various military services efficiently many times, which I confirmed with a survivor, and which should be confirmed in advance should any veterans out there decide to do this as their last service to their survivors. Having had to personally coordinate twice with Arlington and her Dad's service to arrange the inurnment of the wife's parents at Arlington, I can assure you that there was much of what I referred to above as "hassle." Our survivors, particularly our sons and their families, will be spared this difficult chore at a time when they will be grieving their loss.

Jim

[steveincowtown]

My SO says that I should be cremated and the ashes should be poured into a water trough at a donkey farm.

That way I will get one last chance to act like an A**.

[n5wd]

Steveincowtown... you're welcome at our place. If you want to drop by, beforehand, I'll introduce you to our three donkeys!

Cremation, for me. Like my wife, who passed away a couple of years ago, I'll spend eternity in a columbarium with a bunch of good folks at the DFW National Cemetery. Couldn't think of a better neighborhood to be at rest with.

[rmoraes]

B"H
Burial, in Texas. There is a heavy spiritual toll on those cremated, and loss on resurrection with Messiah's arrival. I wasn't planning to go this high when when my wife woke me up this morning,,,(Philosophically speaking)

[Abraham]

"I wasn't planning to go this high when when my wife woke me up this morning,,,

Huh?