The way I see it is that way too much money is put into death. I am not positive the average amount of money spent on a funeral/burial, but I imagine it ranges from 5k to 10k average. The caskets themselves are very expensive and their purpose? To be buried. I understand that people buried chests full of treasure, but WTF. Why do people spend so much effort into making the body/face look pretty and then put them in a casket the price of my car to bury it in a ground. I keep thinking about the bible story of when the disciple came to Jesus and Jesus said, follow me and the man replied, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. and Jesus replied, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead. Does he mean, there are so many more important things to be done, or more important things to spend your $$ on, than burying the dead. _______________________________________________________ Also, you know how people get cremated and then some people take the ashes and let them fly out of there hand from a mountain or sprinkle them in a garden or in the water. Is it just a bit weird that maybe one breath you took was inhaling a cremated persons ashes? Or that a fish may have eaten some ash and then was caught, fileted and you had eaten the digested, cremated human ash? Is it possible that you could have breathed the human ash of a celebrity, entreupaneur, or some humble farmer.
I agree with the above. Also, I don't understand why people eat and drink after the funeral, whatever that part of the whole funeral process is called.
people eat and drink because the family has been distraught so you bring them food to keep up their strength and because they have been too busy/upset to take care of menial household chores such as cooking. as for spending all that money, it's pretty dumb. my mom has requested that we don't have a funeral and just keep the money for ourselves. i don't need one either. i just want to be cremated and put underneath a tree somewhere.
Know what I don't understand... open caskets after horrible accidents. Or open caskets at all. What's the need to see a dead person? Didn't they look much better alive? Oh and for that matter, what's the deal with $15,000 caskets. Let's not even get to limosines and $500 flower arrangements. How about four hour masses or funeral services. I hate death. Not because people have died, but because of all the pomp and circumstance that goes along with it. My wish is for my family to put me in a cardboard box and roast me until I'm dust in the wind. No church, no Amazing Grace, no pretty dead flowers, no graveside tears. Take a bit of the money you save and hoist a beer or two in my honour. It'll make you feel much better.
Funerals are far too expensive. Funeral directors rape people who are grieving over a lost family member. They ooze their schmarmy false sympathy while pushing the price as high as they can get it. The system is disgusting in it's entirety. That box'll cost you 75 bucks from a funeral home.
I believe that it is up to each individual as to how much they can afford to spend on their own funerals. If I were a rich person I'd think nothing of a 30,000.00 casket lined with gold and silver and another 20,000.00 worth of flowers and other things that would make my departure grandoise. I'd also let loose with a great big party after I'm buried for all those who actually came to watch me being put under. That's for the rich, but since I don't have that I wouldn't want any undo hardships put on anyone so just "burn and Urn" me. Then dump those ashes down the toilet and flush me away! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Funerals are like weddings. People get carried away with making a spectacle of them to show off their ability to spend money. (Remember, in America you're not measured by how much you make, but how much you spend.) And they've completely lost track of what the ceremony is about. A funeral is a "rite of passage," the last one any of us will go through. And since the subject is dead, it should be obvious that the ceremony is for the living. It provides different things to different people. For children, it provides proof that the person really is dead and gone, and not just on a long trip or angry at them -- an arguable justification for open-casket funerals. For everyone else, it's just a point of focus, of closure -- a rite of life's most unavoidable passage. People can cry, reminisce, laugh, act stupid, get angry. Perhaps forgive someone for a little offense, realizing that neither of you should have to bury the other one before mending the relationship. Anything goes at a funeral. But since it is a ceremony, it comes with all the trappings. Food, drink, hell in some cultures they might burst into dance, in others they're just as likely to start the mother of all brawls. It's a cleansing, it's a mourning, it's a step in rearing your children, it's a celebration of the lives that haven't ended yet, it's whatever people need it to be. Some people go to strangers' funerals and I don't begrudge it to them although I still can't quite understand what they get out of it. Overrated? Not really. Contemporary American culture makes it difficult for funerals to accomplish their function. That's probably why so many of us leave instructions that we don't want one. By the measures that are important, funerals are actually underrated. -------------------------------------- A little joke to liven this party up: A woman walked out of a Starbucks with her five dollar latte and saw the strangest procession coming toward her. A big black hearse in the lead, driving extremely slowly, followed at some distance by a second hearse. Then quite a distance behind it came a woman walking a Presa Canario dog with an evil grin and a spike collar. * Although she was dressed sedately, something about her gave the first woman the impression that she was not exactly in a funereal mood. But then, a respectful distance behind the marching woman, followed a veritable parade of women, all dressed in normal attire. They were walking slowly and quietly, but they looked even less mournful than the lady in front. The Starbucks woman couldn't help herself. She walked up to the lady in black, and mustering all the solemnity she could, broached her curiosity. The lady in black explained: "That's my husband in the lead hearse." "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. . . . Uh, how exactly did he die?" "Spike, my dog here, killed him." Long perplexed silence as the two women walked together. "So who's in the second hearse?" "That's my mother-in-law. She saw the dog getting the upper hand in the fight so she stepped in to defend her son. Spike got 'em both before I could intervene." An even longer silence ensued as the lady with the coffee kept pace with the apparently not-so-bereaved widow. Finally she broke the silence. "Can I borrow your dog?" "Get in line." * A Presa Canario is that breed of fighting dog that killed the lady in San Francisco a couple of years ago. It was originally a pitbull but I had to change it because by now everyone knows that pitbulls almost never attack humans.
I see them pointless. Just chop me p in little peices and put me in the freezer, I won't mind. After all I'm dead. I rather be creamted then anything..I mean after all that way no demented pervert can dig me up and has his way with me. Talk about ew. Besides I wouldn't want my family depressed with my absnece...the funeral takes planning and money and I wouldn't want me being dead being a burden to anyone.
I agree with Arditezza, why have open caskets? I was at the bedside of a dear loved one when he died. That was not as traumatic as seeing him two days later in an open casket. It was horrible. My last vision of him had been in a hospital bed surrounded by his whole family, he was in his pyjamas, under a blanket, no make up on and his hands were lying naturally by his side as they were when he died. Then I saw him in the casket and there he was made up with too much make-up, in a suit and tie, hands clasped tightly together on his chest as though they were glued there and he was in a lace lined coffin. As traumatic as his death was to us, that view of him in that coffin was more traumatic. We went to the viewing already in deep mourning and seeing him like that in that coffin made it all worse. And for those who say that they want to be cremated, whether you're wrapped in a sheet or placed in a cardboard box or expensive coffin... the cremation is not cheap. Not at all. Funerals are unfortunately expensive because it's seen to be a necessity. I'm not talking about the church services or flowers or cars etc. I'm talking for just the coffin and burial or cremation. I've always said that I wished to be either buried at sea (but my family have refused because they fear that I'd be the kind of person to break my moorings in my cement shoes and wander to the shore.. they called it a haunting of sorts) or to be cremated and then dumped at sea (which is more acceptable to the relatives and loved ones as I couldn't wash up on shore). But after my uncle's death and his cremation, I realise that to be cremated is extremely costly and I wouldn't be saving anyone anything in terms of cash. Funeral service providers know that they can set the price as no one will ever stop using their services. They are seen to be essential. I hope that before I die, people start making up their own funerals and cremating their loved ones Indian style, where one is put on a funeral pyre in the back yard and 'burn baby burn'... that would be the cheapest and probably the best method... for me anyway. My other half wants either a viking burial or he wants to be chopped up and his remains flung at politicians. He sees himself as the kind that will keep on giving even after he's gone...
Gah, funerals. Waste of time I say. Just put me in a hole with a little tombstone that says 'Out to lunch, back in 5 minutes' on it and I'll be a happy dead person. Anyway, funerals are for the living more than the dead. What do the dead care what happens to their body after they die? They're dead!
funerals have an important point, people dont want to be forgotten when they die, so the funeral is to reassure the people who are still alive
I think funerals are pointless, boring and overly longwinded occurences that serve no real purpose in my opinion. The person is dead, and likely dead for days, that´s enough time to morn. Funerals are just a display for those that are still alive, they can show and say how much they liked the dead person and how good they knew him, how great the dead person was and so on. Funerals are for the living, the dead are just a convenient tool.
I agree with all the points people have made about funerals being a rite of passage, a ceremony to provide closure of relationships with the deceased, and an excuse for a get-together by the living. It's a good idea to show respect and consideration for the subject one last time; but, as Bells said, it becomes a necessity and a fashionable duty, more expensive and cumbersome than the essential purpose may require. This may be a cliche, but I would see the ideal funeral as a party dedicated to remembering good times, to enjoying memories associated with the dead person, and thereby coming to terms with their absence. It doesn't have to be particularly costly, just honest and friendly, as long as the body is decently disposed of. Grieving is best done privately.
I haven't heard of him. How much is cremation now a days? -I know if I had a crematorium, my slogan would be "You kill em', We Grill Em'
Bells - a few years ago when we buried my grandfather I had a good look at funeral home pricing. We got the inexpensive coffin because his veteran status meant the American flag would cover most of it anyway. With the funeral service, the tombstone, etc. it was about $8000. And that was just about as cheap as you can get a funeral. By contrast they offered a cremation for $1000. Even with the cremation you still have to pay for the memorial service, flowers, etc. and I'm sure they charge you additional for the urn. I doubt they would let you walk out of there with your loved one's ashes in a Folger's coffee can (as seen in The Big Lebowski).
