Nice and sentimental and all? Remind me to try and not be so dismissive of things that are part of your emotional and familial well-being.
You don't have to take it so personally, I am speaking generally and have even admitted that these things won't change for perhaps hundreds of years and that people's sensibilities will be hard to shake.
Sorry if this touched some sort of a nerve related to a family member or friend passing. I came into this thread treating the subject matter as an abstract thing, not a personal one. I don't even necessarily agree or disagree with the OP (to be honest I can't even remember it) - I just think that we are going to have to rethink cemeteries, because first of all I can never remember how to spell that, but also for all the other reasons already given.
I treat the very direct thread title as a discussion trigger, not as an actual honest position. I would have been far more diplomatic personally, but whatever, we have what we have, might as well try to get past that and try to present your position without any sort of emotional bias. That's where I'm coming from.
Space concerns can be addressed without "ending unsustainable cemeteries" or however this thread is going.
I have no idea where it is going, I've been at work and haven't been able to pay attention. You shouldn't assume anything about my position based on what others have said.
Caskets can be stacked within plots, though they rarely are now. Remains can be cremated and fit into far smaller plots and mausoleums than they are now, then stacked too if necessary.
I see all that as a great & viable way to transition away from sprawling huge cemeteries that take up so much space. Those stacked mausoleums can be quite serene places btw, I totally approve. When I was in Patagonia I visited one in Punta Arenas I believe, it was a memorable experience.
I don't hate cemeteries or anything, or people wanting to remember the dead, but.. I just think far too many resources go into funerals and funeral-related things. The dead are dead - they are no longer here. Let's be honest - we are spending so much time and money on the deceased for
our benefit, not theirs.
It is an often necessary part of grieving, I just think it can be done differently. All those resources going to ceremonies, a burial, an expensive casket, a plot of land, it's thousands of dollars per person. And of course people can do with their money what they want, but looking at it from a societal context there is just a lot of waste of resources there.
We should figure out a better way to remember the dead. The dead don't care, after all, since they're dead. If it's to be for our own benefit, I'm sure we could be a lot more economical while still getting the same benefits in terms of being able to grieve and getting that connection. How? I have no idea, I haven't done the research nor have I thought through other possibilities, but there's no way this is the only thing that's possible. Thousands of dollars per person is just crazy. And isn't it usually >$10k?
I don't think anything should be done right now, do whatever you want. Your kids will do whatever they want. I don't care. I'm not saying anything should change. I just think slowly over time, as a species, as a society, as a civilization, we should be figuring out ways to do this more efficiently. We're being too wasteful in accommodating people who no longer exist. It sounds harsh I guess, but I'm a very pragmatic person. I can be quite emotional, and I form very strong emotional bonds with people, and I cry when they die.. a lot. But a $20,000 funeral is not going to help me grieve. I have my own personal ways to do that.
I can appreciate the need to visit a spot where that person rests if you believe that he/she is still alive, but it just doesn't resonate with me. I mean, it's just a symbol, right? The person's soul is supposed to be elsewhere? You don't need that body man - it's the memories that count. The symbol of the body can be transferred to some other thing that's far more economical.
When you think about it purely logically and remove all emotion from the equation, it just doesn't make sense to allocate real estate to dead bodies. They can't possibly care and the symbolism can be achieved via other means.
.... I sort of wrote a lot - please do not reply to all of it. It's an explanation of my position more than anything, so don't feel compelled to tell me all the things you disagree with. I mean, you can if you want, but if you are to change my mind you need to do it on a larger picture level, not on a point by point basis. Plus I'm not sure if I'd even hate time to follow too many conversations right now, I should not even be posting this. Think of it as a cop-out if you want, but at least maybe my position will be clearer.
