American - Activist | August 19, 1984 -
I want a natural burial. Just straight into the ground in a shroud.
Caitlin Doughty
WantGroundNaturalJustStraight
All the body wants to do biologically is decompose. Once you die, it's, 'Let me out here! I'm ready to shoot my atoms back into the universe!'
MeUniverseDieYouBodyBack
Writing a memoir is such a private, personal experience that it's intimidating to think of adapting it for television.
ExperienceWritingThinkTelevision
The home funeral - caring for the dead ourselves - changes our relationship to grieving. If you have been married to someone for 50 years, why would you let someone take them away the moment they die?
HomeRelationshipMomentCaringDie
Dying in the sanitary environment of a hospital is a relatively new concept. In the late 19th century, dying at a hospital was reserved for people who had nothing and no one. Given the choice, a person wanted to die at home in their bed, surrounded by friends and family.
FamilyHomeFriends And FamilyPeople
I was fascinated by mortality. Most people are, even if they don't admit it.
PeopleAdmitMortalityEvenMost
Because we've never encountered a decomposing body, we can only assume they are out to get us. It is no wonder there is a cultural fascination with zombies.
BodyWonderNeverOutUsGet
Vaults and caskets are not the law; they are the policy of individual cemeteries. Vaults prevent the settling of the dirt around the body, thus making landscaping more uniform and cost effective. As an added bonus, vaults can be customized and sold at a markup. Faux marble? Bronze? Take your pick, family.
FamilyLawBodyUniformMoreDirt
The death industry markets caskets and embalming under the rubric of helping bodies look 'natural,' but our current death customs are as natural as training majestic creatures like bears and elephants to dance in cute little outfits, or erecting replicas of the Eiffel Tower and Venetian canals in the middle of the harsh American desert.
CuteDanceDeathTrainingDesert
Not only is natural burial by far the most ecologically sound way to perish, it doubles down on the fear of fragmentation and loss of control. Making the choice to be naturally buried says, 'Not only am I aware that I'm a helpless, fragmented mass of organic matter, I celebrate it. Vive la decay!'
FearControlCelebrateLossChoice
If people really knew what they were getting into with their third chemotherapy treatment, or getting a pacemaker when they're 92, if they really knew what that was going to mean, they might say no, and we should give them that information.
PeopleInformationSayMeanGoing
For thousands of years, we did have death surrounding us, and we did have people die in the home. You would take care of your own end. You would do ritual processes, and you would be involved in it, and that's been taken away in the Western world.
HomeDeathPeopleWorldCareEnd
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