Page 11 - summer edition2 2023

No, I don’t like funerals either, but I have learned to realise how important they are in our circle of life.
Yes, they are expensive and in these times of financial hardship, the options must be carefully
considered. In the last century, burials were the usual way of dealing with the earthly remains of the
departed, and cremation was often seen as the less respectful and unpleasant option. Indeed, it was
only in the 1960s that the Catholic Church, for example, finally agreed to cremations as an alternative to
burial.

Currently, we have a problem when dealing with death. We are fast running out of land for burials to be
freely and economically available to all who want them. Cremations are now being seen as
environmentally damaging by releasing toxic gases and pollution. Alternative services, such as
terramation (human composting) and aquamation of bodies (alkaline hydrolysis) of the departed are
now available and being promoted as suitable environmentally preferred options to cremation.

I will miss George; our home and neighbourhood won’t be same without him. It would have been
comforting to share grief, as well as our memories of him. I don’t need a funeral to say the things that I
want to say. I can say all that I want to say in the stillness of Meeting or in the peaceful silence of an
evening looking onto the garden that George loved so much.

……………………………………………………………………………………

Dorrie

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