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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My father-in-law was cremated, and when we recieved the ashes, we had a family gathering (people came from all over the country) and walked his favourite walk (along the Chevin, overlooking Otley, Wharfedale, and the River Wharfe), and we then scattered his ashes from the highest point* - that place is now his memorial to us all.
In fact, we did the same with our dog Benji's ashes, as he spent so much time there with his grandad and us - now, everytime we go there, we think of them both.
*we did check there were no rock-climbers / abseilers below us at the time.