Christopher R
I realized that I don’t know too much about care of the dead because the only time that I was ever around someone who was dead is at a funeral. I see funerals as more of the celebration of a loved one more than the care of the dead. I honestly don’t even know what would be classified as the care of the dead. I think the burial of someone who is dead, and the way they are presented, such as clothing and who speaks at the funeral is care of the dead. I also feel like cremation is care of the dead, because it is what happens to the body after the person is dead. After knowing that less than one percent of my life I have been around someone who is dead, I don’t feel like I can strongly say anything about the care of the dead because it is something that I doubt many people know a lot about. Out of the 10 or so funerals that I have attended I haven’t been to one where the person was cremated afterwards, and I have only been to one of the burials of a person.
I think the most insightful thing I can put into this post seeing as I know literally nothing about care of the dead is the way I act towards someone who dies. For many different reasons I would rather not be around someone who has died. This is because it is something that we all have to go through but many people tend to put the idea of it in the back of their minds. When hearing about someone who died on television, the focus is not about the person who died but it is usually about the person who killed. Being near someone who actually is dead or thinking about someone who has died makes you wonder about your own death. Since people like to put off the idea that they are going to die it is more comfortable to be able to think about something else then about when you die. The idea of not being able to interact with anyone who you know in the present is scary. The fact that many people are unsure what happens in the afterlife is also scary. Personally I have a fear of death because I always wonder how it would affect my mother if I died. It’s hard to face the fact that the people we have set up relationships with already in this world can go away instantly. In this sense it seems like the dead are treated terribly, once dead we burn and bury them never to be seen again. Not able to push them back in memory but able to push them physically off the earth. I would say most people feel as if being around dead people changes the mood in a negative way, although they remain with us in memory it’s preferred to have them buried away.
• Is the dominant social practice of the United States based off the dominant social practices of a religion?
• Who are the experts on care of the dead, why do they believe this form of care of the dead is ideal?
• What are alternatives to the dominant social practice of care of the dead?
• How has the care of the dead changed over time?
• What is some useful, basic information of the care of the dead?
• In what ways are the alternatives better than the dominant social practices?
I like your honest approach to what you do and don't know. Somethings you can think about to go past your initial thoughts are what goes behind organizing a funeral and why are they organized the way they are? Considering every way a body is handled after it is dead as "care for the dead" is a good mindset to have because there are intentions for everything we choose to do and the body is involved in every situation. I think it was very important when you stated:"thinking about someone who has died makes you wonder about your own death." because it seems to be the general reaction of everyone. I wonder why that is usually the initial reaction after someone has died rather than thinking about the person as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Amhara - I liked that you were honest about not having much experience with the topic. I also liked that you still had ideas about it; this part was especially perceptive:
ReplyDelete"Personally I have a fear of death because I always wonder how it would affect my mother if I died. It’s hard to face the fact that the people we have set up relationships with already in this world can go away instantly. In this sense it seems like the dead are treated terribly, once dead we burn and bury them never to be seen again. Not able to push them back in memory but able to push them physically off the earth."
You got at the idea that the way we care for the dead is actually sort of cruel; we shove them away and try not to think about them. This is something I hadn't previously considered.
I liked your blog post because even though you didn't know much about the care of the dead you still found some topics to go into which I found to be very interesting.. I liked how you talked about how being around someone dead at a funeral brings up death which is often pushed off to the very back of everyones mind. This made me think: would it even be possible to live without having death pushed off to the back of your mind? I also like how you talk about the affect of death on other people because I think that's a very important thing when thinking about care of the dead. When you die you're gone, it's the people around you that are going to be affected and have to keep living.
ReplyDelete