A Serious Undertaking

My will states I am to be cremated, ashes in the river and a party to celebrate my life. Why should the funeral industry get ANY money,they aren't dying.

Cremation as enviromentally friendly!? Wow , do you realize that it takes 3-5 hours to cremate a body at 1200 plus degrees? Not to mention the heat/smoke that is given off by the furnaces as well as all of the mercury within people's fillings that are just emitted into the air? To the author of this article and to the FCA, do your research and you will find that cremation is certainly not enviromentally friendly.

In addition, the author Jessica Mitford, of "The American Way of Death" was a self described communist! So of course she would be against any such business that is of a free enterprise.

Approximately a year and a half ago, I personally had the priveledge to work with the family of a deceased man who were adament about a green burial. The only "green" cemetery even remotely in our area is in Ithaca, NY which involved a six hour drive. The day after the person passed, we had a mass at a Catholic Church and the following morning set off for Ithaca. The family met us at the cemetery at the appointed time and were encouraged to "participate" in the actual burial. The property was bordered by state forest and Cornell University outdoor Learning Lab. The deceased was buried in a plain pine casket with all lining removed and we further drilled holes in the bottom of the casket to enhance natural decomposition and his return to the earth. This particular cemetery would have buried him in a shroud and did not require caskets for burial. Families who purchased space were encouraged to return for camping and/or cross country skiing on the property. The family pretty much conducted the service and it was one of the most meaningful services I ever had the priveledge to direct.. Fortunately, not all funeral directors are in the business for the financial reward. You just need to do your homework and deal with a reputable firm.

Once a love one dies, the family should have the right to decide what happens with the body after being officially declared dead by a licensed proffessional..
If they want to take the body from the scene, hospital, or morgue they should be granted that option, Many creamatories are rip offs, and creamate bodies of several people together to save on fuel cost of the 1800 degree furnaces and spread the ashes evenly over two or three urns. In our case, Grandmother died with no teeth, however there were teeth in the ashes, We could not get a local attorney to sue, because all of the local funeral directors were either friends, or a member ot the same Rotary Club or Chamber of Commerce.
I think the Funeral Business needs tighter regulation and oversight. Many are taken advantage of during a very difficult time.
I am all for home based funerals amd those guys with the silk suits, powdered faces, and blue lips with the limo's can stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

I have to disagree with how the morticians are portrayed by Slocum. When my father passed away in February the mortician was very kind. Never once did I feel I was being taken advantage of. I am a smart person not stupid.
I was very pleased with the service given. If anything I think the poor mortician tried to down sale the to upsale.

I think some change is in order.People can not or do not miss work for the funeral.the visitation is to short.So people miss the required ritual. It would be far better to have a green/or cremate service for the family and later have a mass and funeral service and let people pay their respects then. Maybe week or two latter.
The cemataries make you have the cement boxes and metal caskets. The laws would have to change.
My Grandfather was buried from the home

"A Serious Undertaking" is a seriously bad pun., but I dig it.

hmmm........... sounds like a business everyone is dying to get in to

Yes, but I heard their business was just dead.

There was a book several years ago called "the High Cost of Dying" that exposed the funeral industry. The movie "The Loved One" starring Jonathon Winters is a classic that satirizes the funeral business.

I have been telling my family for years to bury me in a pine box. It is eminently more affordable and since I was going to rot anyway, what i"m in makes no differance. Save the bucks For themselves, and party on.

A better solution is to donate one's body to science. Just put aside a couple thousand dollars for a party to celebrate the person's life and let their death pass. I find the idea of annual commemoration of a persons deth to be absursd. Their life is what mattered not thier death. If you want to commemorate something, commemorate their birthday.

The funeral industry is a rip off. And cemetaries are a waste of valuable land. I have stopped visiting my father's grave, instead opting to remember him by listening to his favorite music and having a glass of good wine on his birthday, and doing social justice actions in his honor. That is the only way that he lives on,as there is nothing after death except our memories of our loved ones.

Just stuff me, naked and standing upright, into a hole in the ground and plant a tree over me.