Topic awaiting preservation: Funerals

Simply put, they are a waste of money.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding, and being understood. "

They don't have to be, however.

A woman my wife works with did a 'Do it yourself' funeral for her husband. He died in hospital... she went home built a plywood box, took that to the hospital... hubby was put in the box and off she drove to the crematorium. Ashes went into a cardboard box and off she drove again. Friends gathered..ashes were scattered. I think she may have had to get a permit to transport the body but I'm not sure and if she did... it wasn't a big deal.

Most people of course can't deal with this approach but there's no law saying you have to go thru a funeral home.

quote:

---

Simply put, they are a waste of money

---

For you, it may be. For others, it may be a tremedously important thing, worth just about any price.

I personally don't hold much from a funeral, but that is how I see it.

WebShaman | The keenest sorrow (and greatest truth) is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.
- Sophocles

Many people see them as a celebration of a departed ones life, one final knees up in their honour.

How many people did you bury? Zynx.
As i lost both my parents and some older family members i know a decent burial is very important. Maybe not for the dead but more for the living so they can gather together and comfort each other, with a funeral people can have a decent farewell from the diparted. There are a lot off social aspects to a funeral which are very important to the people who stay behind. They can close to book so to say and get on with their lives.
Furthermore there is the question off respect for the dead, respect for what they did and who they where when still alive.

Yes i do hate going to funerals but they are very importand to attend to especialy for the beloved who stayed behind.

------------------------------
Support Justice for Pat Richard

Waste of money? That depends apon your prospective Zynx, and I feel most people here would concur with Rinswinds point of wiew. I know I do.
Personally, the money I was going to put towards my traditional Viking burial at sea, you know the one where all your archer friends fire flaming arrows at your floating funeral pyre. Well, I have been thinking of a burial in a forest or a wood, with an oak tree planted on top of me.
No waste of money there

::tao:::: ::cell::::::blog::::

L.IES DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH OAK TREE SEEDS COST OMFG THEY'RE EXPENSIVE IT'S NOT LIKE THEY GROW ON TREES OR ANYTHING!

Here's how I see it.

You frequent a room, with a dead body in it, occasionally taking peek after peek, and discussing how well they look. Add in a few people with whom you have no idea who they are, or what they are doing at your loved ones funeral. And if that wasn't awkward enough, you have to greet every relative that you probably never met, and a few of those you never wanted to re-visit. And don't forget the uncontrolable sobbing, from your mother, or the aunt, or the sister, even though most of the time when he was alive, they all constantly called him every name in the book. And top it off, by following a motorcade for miles on end, seated in between your fat older brother, who is starting to stink due to the oppressive summer heat, and a 2nd cousin, whose peach perfume, white knee socks, and curly pigtails is confusing your medulla oblangata! Simply to do it all over again in a place where the men are thinking about golf, and the women are thinking about their hats!

And that's normal?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding, and being understood. "

How many funerals did you attend to?

How many people do you mis?

What a thoughtless lot, them...forgetting that it's all about you. Be big... forgive them.

Zynx, you have only been to funerals like that and so you dismiss ALL mourning ceremonies?

*shakes head*

Mourning the passage of a loved or dear one is a necessary part of letting go, a severence of the past and a coming to terms with the present and future without said dear or loved one.

WebShaman | The keenest sorrow (and greatest truth) is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.
- Sophocles

I feel simply aweful.

I agree with Zynx.

I recall when my dad died. He wanted no fuss, burn him and spread him, have a drink to his memory and carry on.

Well, the funeral home where the cremation took place, if my sister and myself had not been there, they would have turned that simple wish into a 20 thou event.

I like no-jives story.

We make way too much fuss over a death and there is really no need to.

I suspect it has much more to do with money and religion than reality.

As I mentioned at least once before here, if the xian afterlife is so great, why the great lamentations when someone head to that mythological place?

For that matter, why do the religious spend so much money on delaying their departure?

Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right.
Isaac Asimov
US science fiction novelist & scholar (1920 - 1992)

Mourning isn't to somehow make someone who died feel anything, Dio. Mourning is for those who have lost a dear or loved one. Irregardless of what one holds from an Afterlife, ect, the simple fact is, that once dead, you don't come back. That means that those who are left behind have to cope with the burden, be it emotional, financial, what have you.

WebShaman | The keenest sorrow (and greatest truth) is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities.
- Sophocles

First off let me say that my original post, "Funeral" was meant to showcase the situation explained in my second post. And while I have buried many friends, family, and co-workers, I don't think that such a number should determine whether I am right or wrong/ decent or horrible. I disgusted with the industry that exists that preys upon people emotions, before during, and after one has lost a loved one. Such marketing makes me sick. Hell, ALL marketing makes me sick.

quote:

---

WebShaman said:Zynx, you have only been to funerals like that and so you dismiss ALL mourning ceremonies?*shakes head*

---

No. Many ceremonies which cost very little, are just as poinient as others that cost thousands. Like many have said, it depends on each person, and I don't ask that people stop spending whatever they want for their dead loved ones. What I am asking is that people ask themselves, why is this important?

quote:

---

WebShaman said:Mourning the passage of a loved or dear one is a necessary part of
letting go, a severence of the past and a coming to terms with the present and future without said dear or loved one.

---

I completely agree. Now can you explain to me why? Personally I find such an emotional "end" idiotic. Who says that a funeral accomplishes closure? Personally, other ceremonies, cremation included, work better for me. Hell I have even heard of "living funerals" quite helpful in the matter of closure. I guess I am wondering why people are monetarily concerned, when it comes to the death of a loved one. I would hope that any persons decision about how to deal with a loved ones death, should first consider what THEIR wishes were. Not what benefits THEIR survivors.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
" The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding, and being understood. "