I would guess that some don't care one way or the other. I know some have posted here and elsewhere about
donating organs for the just living/nearly dying or their entire bodies
for medical research. I respect their choices but I reckon my organs
have been so terribly abused during my lifetime they are not much use to
anyone, but absentdaughter has full permission for them to be taken if
any of them are any good.
My family has always had burials and, somehow, the earth-to-earth thing seems right and natural to me. I did
suggest that I could be buried upright – given the machinery available
to dig deep holes nowadays – to use less space, but I doubt if that is
likely to happen. Anyway, we do still have quite a lot of space here. I
have specified a green "coffin" – cardboard would be best, but I don't
think they are legal in New Zealand at the moment. (I am not planning to
die at the moment either, so I can wait.)
I understand that cremations are probably better in a crowded world but they have always
seemed a little dismissive to me, even when ashes are scattered
somewhere nearby the surviving family. I feel that there is something
important in a memorial place, especially as my descendants don't live
where most of their ancestors are buried and might one day want to visit
a family grave.
