Here's a question I've mulled over since I was a wee lad: Why do we stick dead human bodies in the ground? Who thought this up and why did they think it was a good idea? More importantly, why do people still think it's a good idea?
It's always seemed rather counter-intuitive to me. By and large, we don't bury dead cows or dead chickens, so why bury dead humans?
Of course, we no longer just bury dead bodies by themselves. People spend inordinate amounts of money on caskets made of all sorts of materials, several of which aren't particularly biodegradable.
In India, they burn dead bodies on a pyre. In many American Indian cultures, they would leave dead bodies on scaffolds. Often, if someone died at sea, the dead were dumped overboard. But, in America, most people stick dead bodies in a box and bury them.
Wouldn't it make far more sense to farm out all the usable parts to living people in need of them and science for research, then burn the rest to be used as fertilizer or for some other useful purpose? If folks can put fish meal (ground up dead fish) on their gardens, why not people meal?
As long as I've broached this morbid topic, let's take it a step further. I've never understood why so many people insist on open casket funerals. What's the purpose behind looking at a dead body?
If the mortician has done a good job, I've often heard people remark, "She looks so lifelike" or "He looks at peace now". I look at these same bodies and they don't look lifelike nor at peace -- they look dead.
Since most people (though certainly not all) accept the notion that we are more than our bodies -- that something called soul, spirit, essence, force, etc. exists independently -- a body without this something extra is nothing more than a housing.
I remember when my first wife's mother died of cancer. The missus didn't want to view her mother's body, but her siblings convinced her otherwise. They told her she would regret it later IF she didn't say here goodbyes. So, we trooped in to gaze into the open casket.
It turns out her siblings were correct about the regrets -- my wife regretted being talked into something she didn't want to do! She had nightmares for weeks.
When my maternal grandmother died, I was given the task of photographing her body in the open casket. I kept trying to beg off of this because I had no interest whatsoever in taking a peek at her corpse. But my family was under the same misguided position as my former in-laws -- they thought it would be good for me. Needless to say, it wasn't.
I do understand the need to say goodbye to a loved one, but a dead body is not the one you loved. You loved the person inside the body, so why should you feel relieved saying goodbye to a shell? It would be like breaking your favorite vase, then sitting around saying so long to the box it came in.
It's always seemed rather counter-intuitive to me. By and large, we don't bury dead cows or dead chickens, so why bury dead humans?
Of course, we no longer just bury dead bodies by themselves. People spend inordinate amounts of money on caskets made of all sorts of materials, several of which aren't particularly biodegradable.
In India, they burn dead bodies on a pyre. In many American Indian cultures, they would leave dead bodies on scaffolds. Often, if someone died at sea, the dead were dumped overboard. But, in America, most people stick dead bodies in a box and bury them.
Wouldn't it make far more sense to farm out all the usable parts to living people in need of them and science for research, then burn the rest to be used as fertilizer or for some other useful purpose? If folks can put fish meal (ground up dead fish) on their gardens, why not people meal?
As long as I've broached this morbid topic, let's take it a step further. I've never understood why so many people insist on open casket funerals. What's the purpose behind looking at a dead body?
If the mortician has done a good job, I've often heard people remark, "She looks so lifelike" or "He looks at peace now". I look at these same bodies and they don't look lifelike nor at peace -- they look dead.
Since most people (though certainly not all) accept the notion that we are more than our bodies -- that something called soul, spirit, essence, force, etc. exists independently -- a body without this something extra is nothing more than a housing.
I remember when my first wife's mother died of cancer. The missus didn't want to view her mother's body, but her siblings convinced her otherwise. They told her she would regret it later IF she didn't say here goodbyes. So, we trooped in to gaze into the open casket.
It turns out her siblings were correct about the regrets -- my wife regretted being talked into something she didn't want to do! She had nightmares for weeks.
When my maternal grandmother died, I was given the task of photographing her body in the open casket. I kept trying to beg off of this because I had no interest whatsoever in taking a peek at her corpse. But my family was under the same misguided position as my former in-laws -- they thought it would be good for me. Needless to say, it wasn't.
I do understand the need to say goodbye to a loved one, but a dead body is not the one you loved. You loved the person inside the body, so why should you feel relieved saying goodbye to a shell? It would be like breaking your favorite vase, then sitting around saying so long to the box it came in.
A housing, a shell...indeed. I'm totally with you on this one, Why do we do this indeed?
ReplyDeleteI've been enjoying your writing here and your perspective on things.
Peace
Let me return the compliment. I'm glad you visited here because it offered me the opportunity to find and read your fine blog!
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