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Funerals and dying...

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Comments

  • #62
    the_syco
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 37,316 ✭✭✭✭the_syco


    Meh. Give donate useful internal organs to people. People, not scientific expermentation. Then float me on a burning boat out to sea, like the vikings. Also, have a depth charge or 3 under the desk, so when the boat sinks, everything goes pop, and my remains are scattered around; I don't want some f**king historian poking around with my bones.


  • #63
    Zillah
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 17,371 ✭✭✭✭Zillah


    drkpower wrote: »
    In any case, I have been gently warned to avoid the use of such sensitive terms as schizoiphrenia, so I'll refrain from doing so.

    I wonder if I could get an exemption put in the charter. "You may not insult other posters, except Zillah, he likes a good fight."


  • #64
    Mark Hamill
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,834 ✭✭✭Mark Hamill


    When I die I want to be the equivilant of a sports car left unlocked in the inner city- up on blocks, every thing from the radio to the loose change under the seat taken within fifteen minutes. As for the left overs? Ah put me in dog food if you like, what do I care I'll be dead.
    My brother said essentially the same thing (didn't specify dog food though) but he said he would like it if his kids could at least see the people who get his organs, so they can see some good that comes from his death, which I think is nice.


  • #65
    Goduznt Xzst
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,353 ✭✭✭Goduznt Xzst


    What happens after I die is of little concern to me. I'll leave it in the hands of those that love me, because, in reality, the whole funeral is for them and not me, so they might as well have the funeral that they want me to have.

    On a related note, I'd be interested to hear about how much the Atheists here think about death, and has the amount of thought they put into it increased since becoming an Atheist (it probably naturally increases with age anyway)

    Personally, I think about it a lot more, not really death itself but dying. At least once I day I contemplate death, living, my memories of that day that, are in effect, dying (in that in a few days I will have forgotten what happened in work that day, what I ate for lunch... etc, every day parts of life die out of being forgotten).

    I think what bothers me more is looking at those I love and knowing they will die. Thankfully I still have both of my parents but I know if I live to an average age I will have to bury both of them. Also, it is of note that I do not get emotional about this or depressed, it is just a fact of existence.

    If anything it makes me a better person around those I care about. I treat every minute with my parents like its my last, because it may very well be. I can honestly say since becoming an Atheist my relationships with people that are important to me is a lot stronger. I think the carrot on a stick of eternal existence gives you too much comfort. I know previously the feeling of being with my family for eternity led to a nonchalance around them. Now, when I have to say goodbye to these people, I say it like I would if I knew I was leaving for a year, even if I know I will see them tomorrow.

    Death to me, is like any planned event or holiday I have coming up on the horizon. It will happen. Those that think of it morbidly or try to ignore it are not doing themselves any favors. None of us get out alive. I think a healthy acknowledgement of human existence and it's cycle leads one to have a much more productive life with the means at their disposal now.


  • #66
    Turtwig
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 26,578 ✭✭✭✭Turtwig


    Goduznt Xzst wrote: »
    Death to me, is like any planned event or holiday I have coming up on the horizon. It will happen. Those that think of it morbidly or try to ignore it are not doing themselves any favors. None of us get out alive. I think a healthy acknowledgement of human existence and it's cycle leads one to have a much more productive life with the means at their disposal now.

    You'd definitely be the ideal soldier then:)


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  • #67
    komodosp
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,657 ✭✭✭komodosp


    Don't really care what happens to me anyway, as Goduznt said a funeral is for the mourners not the person who died. If it makes them feel better to have a religious funeral and think I'm gone to heaven and looking down on them, then let them go ahead.

    The great thing about being an Atheist is you don't have to care about people respecting your "beliefs" - the same reason I'd be perfectly willing to have a religious wedding or have my children christened if it would ease family relations. So some ould fella is going to say a few words and pour water on the kids head. Doesn't bother me...

    I suppose the best thing would be to have my organs harvested for transplantation and whatever is left put into medical research. Anything else can be donated to a starving family or something.

    The one thing I will say about funerals - (I have only ever been to one, BTW) - I know they are depressing and go on for a long time, but the procedural and respectful nature of it does give a certain sense of closure to the loved ones, (especially if they are believers).


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