Cremation

B

BAM

Cathlete
I don't mean to talk about a morbid subject but it's something that I've been thinking about. I'm considering having all my useable organs donated and then I'm figuring on having the remains cremated. As a nun from junior high stated, "Our body is just an envelope to hold its contents." Cremation would be cheaper than a burial and I'm just thinking this is a practical way to go - for me, that is. Does anyone have any opinions on this? I know there's no right or wrong way. It's most certainly an individual choice and I want to make decisions like this now while I am able.

Thanks.
Bam
 
DH and I both plan on being cremated. I'd like to do the organ donor thing, that kinds skeeves him out. He would like to be scattered in the woods or a nice garden (he's a landscaper). I could sit in a jar on someone's mantel, or be put in a cardboard box in someone's attic. It doesn't matter to me. Cremation is way cheaper, and being shoved in a box in the ground and having the worms eat my eyeballs out gives me the heebie jeebies. Yes, I know I'll be dead, and won't feel it, but thats not the point!! It'll be cremation for the both of us. Although if whoever does it went against our wishes, I don't suppose we'd ever know.

Nan
 
I want my organs, limbs, tissue donated. Then my body will be donated to science so the upcoming surgeons, doctors, etc. can practice on me. From there they can do whatever they want with me.
 
I am donating anything they need...the rest? Cremate. I believe your soul leaves your body when you pass, who cares what happens to the shell?
 
I'm going to get cremated when I die but I'm also Hindu. My husband, who was raised Christian and is now an agnostic, also wishes to be cremated when he dies. We already have signed to have as much as we can donated for life saving purposes but also for research. My MIL -- who is Christian -- has also expressed to us that she wishes to be cremated but I think hers is more to do with the financial burden of a standard Christian burial. Personally, the idea of decomposing in a coffin freaks me out a bit...
 
I have no desire to be buried. The whole idea creeps me out. When I am dead, I want to be gone rather than lying in a grave. My family knows that my wishes are to have my organs donated, what remains donated to science if possible - but I want to be cremated. And I want my remains to be scattered. It seems freeing for my soul as well as for the souls of those who would still remain on the earth. And I want a party - a celebration of my life - rather than a funeral. I know what hymns I want to be sung and what prayers that I want prayed, and I want laughter rather than tears. Of course, I do fully intend on living to be about 127 so there will be a lot of youngsters around the 100 year mark, so what would you expect other than a wild time ;)
 
My FIL passed away unexpectedly on June 5' 2007. It was very difficult to say the least. He dropped of a massive heart attack. It is sad to say he didn ot take care of his body. Some of his organs were able to be donated & we had him cremated - he now lives with us. Since we have received 2 letters from people who have received his tissue & bone marrow. What a joy it was to hear these stories!! Back in October we went to an event for the families of those who have donated. We heard stories from the families whose loved ones were lost as well as from recipients. What a blessing! Yes, it was hard but so worth it!! These poeple are so thankful!
My dh & I are also going to be cremated then mixed together!! Whoever goes first can take the other along!
 
I want to be cremated also, and my organs donated. DH is a bit freaked out by it, but respects my wishes. I don't like the thought of all those fluids being pumped into my dead body to "preserve" me, I will have spent my whole life trying to keep all those chemicals OUT of my body, kwim? And I certainly don't want people looking at my dead body....
 
meowracer said:
I have no desire to be buried. The whole idea creeps me out. When I am dead, I want to be gone rather than lying in a grave. My family knows that my wishes are to have my organs donated, what remains donated to science if possible - but I want to be cremated. And I want my remains to be scattered. It seems freeing for my soul as well as for the souls of those who would still remain on the earth. And I want a party - a celebration of my life - rather than a funeral. I know what hymns I want to be sung and what prayers that I want prayed, and I want laughter rather than tears. Of course, I do fully intend on living to be about 127 so there will be a lot of youngsters around the 100 year mark, so what would you expect other than a wild time ;)
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Same here. I want my organs donated and to be cremated. I don't want a funeral but instead a party with lots of laughter and people saying things like.."remember when Jane did this...what a crazy chick!" :eek:

My aunt passed away in 2007 and wanted to be cremated and she didn't want a service. She said I want you to sit around and say nice things about me. So we had a celebration on her birthday (a month or so after her death) and we ordered a Teddy Bear cake (she collected teddy bears) and ate it while saying nice things about her.
 
I am a registered organ donor and have in my will that I am to be cremated and my ashes dumped in the Grand Canyon. That was a tongue-in-cheek thing I said to my lawyer, but he actually put it in my will. I just don't want to end up as a mantal piece.
 
Well, if the option of wrapping my body in a cloth and burying me under a garden to decompose naturally is not an option, I'll go for prgan donation and cremation. And scattering of the ashes.

I agree that our bodies are just like an old set of clothes that we wear until we no longer need them. What is us is no longer there when we die. (though the idea of whole-body donation, with the prospect of ending up as a dissection subject in some medical class, is not something that interests me. However, I would donate my body for experiments if it kept animals from being used for that purpose.)

And if we continue to bury people in huge caskets that last forever, where will we find room for them all? And how about leaving room for the living (or all species)?

One solution is ossuaries, like they have in France. In many cemetaries, you rent space for a number of years, and if rental payments stop, the casket is dug up, and the remaining bones are put in an ossuary (a 'bone repository' of sorts) to break down with other bones. They might even be used as fertilizer or something.)
 
I want to donate my organs and be cremated. I really don't care what is done with my ashes, that can be left up to whomever chooses. I just don't want to be buried. I am extremely claustrophobic!!!!! I know that I won't know then...but still...that's a disservice to my body after that many (however many it ends up to be) years!!! My brother passed away 10 years ago and my parents buried him. My dad quickly bought plots next to him so that we could all one day be buried next to each other. That bothered me so much, but I have yet to tell him that. I need to. They can put a headstone there in my memory, but not my body!!!
 
I have always wanted to be cremated as I think the whole business of a funeral, coffin, limousines etc. is a huge waste of money. I saw what it cost to bury my MIL and it was shocking. However, I know that in the past it was against the catholic religion to cremate. If someone is up to date on Catholicism's current take on this please let me know. I still want to be cremated and this topic has opened me up to consider donating what could be useful for research of for someone else to use. My fear is that if I am cremated, I went get to join my DH up there if it is strongly opposed my the catholic church. I attend church with my
DH but I disagree strongly with some of their tenets and I also attend another place of (non catholic) worship that fits in much closer to my beliefs.
Booboo
 
Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts on this. I would like to discuss this a bit more but I am running out for the rest of the day. I will post tomorrow but I really do appreciate all of you talking about this subject. It really is helping me. Hope everyone has a wonderful day and weekend.

Bam
 
However, I know that in the past it was against the catholic religion to cremate. If someone is up to date on Catholicism's current take on this please let me know. I still want to be cremated and this topic has opened me up to consider donating what could be useful for research of for someone else to use. My fear is that if I am cremated, I went get to join my DH up there if it is strongly opposed my the catholic church. I attend church with my DH but I disagree strongly with some of their tenets and I also attend another place of (non catholic) worship that fits in much closer to my beliefs.
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I am a practicing Catholic and had my parents cremated, so I did some research. No, it is not against Catholic teaching (not since 1963); however, there are specifics on how the cremains are handled. The Catechism of the Catholic Church paragraph 2301 and Canon Law can be found on line and discuss cremation.

I don't want a funeral but instead a party with lots of laughter and people saying things like.."remember when Jane did this...what a crazy chick!"
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This is my preference too, and I agree with booboo on the absurd cost. And I am completely against a "viewing"/wake with the exception of my closest family & friends who may need this for the grieving process. It is the looky-loos I don't want checking me out, and I don't want people talking about how good I look. I remember my grandparents' viewings and everyone talking about how good they look..... "better than when I saw him or her last". I remember thinking, "they look dead". Yikes, I hope I don't look better dead than alive. :confused: I know what they meant but it sounded so harsh.
 
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DH & I have filled out all the paperwork to the Virginia Anatomical Donation Society to have our bodies donated to science upon our deaths. We even have the donor cards in our wallets stating our wishes.

For those of you who want to go that route, please know that you must fill out the appropriate forms for your state. You can’t just say you want to do it, and hope it gets done. DH’s family has done this for years.

Also, you can’t be an organ or eye donor if you choose to give your body to science. They want to whole thing. And, it’s a good idea to have a back-up plan because if for some reason an autopsy has to be done on your body, the Anatomical Society can’t use it.
 
I am Christian and really believe that once, you are dead the flesh does not have any meaning. Both my husband and I are registered organ donors (in Georgia it is a note on your driver's license) and I say burn the rest and I do not really care what happens.
The funeral homes who tell people that they are "required" to buy an expensive coffin for someone who is being cremated really irk me, but that is another rant.
I tell my husband he can put me on the mantel to talk to when I am dead. :p
But really it does not matter where my ashes go.
 
Take everything needed for donation, then cremation, baby. The idea of being buried "6 feet under" skeeves me out to no end. Plus it is atrocious for the environment and a ridiculous waste of money. Once I'm dead, I'm not going to know one way or the other, so do whatever with my ashes. I know - take me to Paris and sprinkle my ashes over Jim Morrison's, Oscar Wilde's, and Marcel Proust's graves. Talk about a party!
Pere Lachese (sp) is absolutely beautiful!! (as was Mr Mojo).
 
Oh boy. I am planning to donate my organs but I didn't realize I had to be cremated. Do you??? I know this sounds really, really, REALLY stupid but what if you can feel yourself being burned? I also don't like the idea of being buried either. I'll feel suffocated. I don't think I'll die...as long as I have Cathe as my trainer.:p
 
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