For my culminating project in the care of the dead unit, I will be interviewing my family on what they would like done with their own bodies once they have passed away. Throughout this unit, I have learned about the down low controversy that exists within the death community in handling dead bodies and arranging/paying for funerals, caskets and embalming. Now that I'm somewhat more knowledgeable on the topic, at least more than before this unit, I'm interested in my immediate family's thoughts on this subject.
I didn't want to make this a strictly question and answer ordeal. What I did was inform my interviewees on what I have learned in the care of the dead unit. I informed them of the mutiple different ways a dead body can be put down to permanent rest, expensive costs of caskets and funerals and the multiple different ways bodies are taken care of in the meantime, like freezing and embalming. I then asked what each of my interviewees would like done with their bodies, why they want it done, and their overall take on death.
My Mothers Response
" I would like my body to be cremated. I wouldn't want to be buried and have complete strangers stepping all over me. I would feel better knowing I was in good hands. Either that, or maybe I would like my remains to be spinkled somewhere private, where only my family can go".
On a side note, my mom was talking to me about embalming and how its done because the fluids within a dead body would make the body stiffen up and even rise up out of a coffin, this is one of the reasons why embalming is done. I didn't catch that during the unit so I just found that interesting.
My Sister's Response
" I want to be buried. I would like to have a funeral and everything so that I can be remembered. I wouldn't want to be cremated. I know I'm dead and everything, but the thought of my body being burned freaks me out. So I would definitly want to be buried".
My Father's Response
" I definitly don't want to be buried underground. If I were to be buried, it would be in a mausoleum. And another thing, how do you know if you're dead forever when you die? What if you're done for 6 months and then you come back to life? If that's the case, you'll be tortured being buried 6 feet under. There have been actual cases where people who have been thought to have be dead were actually in comas. So you never know what death is or how long it is".
Its pretty amazing how three of my closest relatives have completly different preferences on what they want done their dead bodies. I was especially pretty intrigued by my fathers beliefs on death (he was actually pretty serious with his answer). But the point of that is that with death being only one thing, its also many different things in the eyes of many different people who have multiple thoughts and beliefs on what happens after you die, and that plays a role in what they want done physically with their bodies. I personally don't really think about my own body's process of being dead. I wouldn't mind being buried or cremated. I think more about what happens to your soul after you die, like what happens the moment you die? I always pictured seeing your whole life flash before your eyes from when you are born to the moments that you die. Then I believe that you go on some kind of journey and go to heaven. There's multiple pop culture references in relation to death. I personally enjoyed the movie "The Lovely Bones", a fictional movie about a 14 year old girl who is killed and tries to help her family solve her murder from the sprit world. It really makes death look like a unique, beautiful place and makes you think more about it. However, with all the thoughts and beliefs that exist, I also believe death will never truly be known until the day it actually happens to you.
No comments:
Post a Comment