Quote:
Originally Posted by Chris
I've been to a good few funerals but IIRC only three of them were burials; 7 or 8 were cremations. It does seem to be more popular now.
I have always thought like you, cremate me, once I'm gone nobody needs my body hanging around. However I think I'm beginning to reappraise my views on this. As a society we have hidden death in a corner. Cremation is very clean and leaves you with little or nothing afterwards. We are in danger of losing the valuable role graveyards can play in our society. They connect us to the past and hint at the real lives of ordinary people. I think we have become far too individualistic and we need to look for as many ways as we can to maintain the sense of shared past, present and future. A proper reminder of our ancestors, via their presence in our local cemetery, would do no harm.
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As it happens, there's a graveyard right outside my house. As in: when I look out my front window, there's a graveyard. Leaving aside the aesthetics of the place (it's great despite initial misgivings. Instead of houses, I have a lot of green and oldish tombstones outside my front window), I can relate to what you say. I walk through the graveyard nearly daily on my way to the shops.
It's interesting. Dates on stones go back to late 19th century, there's mass graves for the poor, tiny little stones for babies, and lots of people buried alongside their spouse/family members. I like the graveyard. It does give the 'connect' you mention.