DIY Funerals and the Quest for Authenticity
Boing Boing's David Pescovitz on the merits of burying your dead yourself As cyberspace becomes a "layer"...
Boing Boing's David Pescovitz on the merits of burying your dead yourself
going DIY, or DIO (do-it-ourselves), can give those in mourning something that is a natural part of many other cultures: a visceral, authentic connection to the physical reality of death.Death is very personal, both emotionally and physically. Fortunately, there's a spectrum of possibility when it comes to DIY funerals. Crossings is a Maryland-based information clearinghouse that advocates for "the integration of dying and after-death care back into our family and community life." Visiting the organization's site, I learned about green burials, the chemical nastiness of embalming, and the legalities of acting as your own funeral director.And while green is good, what DIY funerals really offer is personalization, customization, and the embodiment of emotion through an authentic experience."I suppose people whose loved ones are missing in action or lost at sea might envy the rest of us, for whom death typically leaves a corpse, or in the polite language of funeral directors, 'the remains,'" Alexander writes. "Yet for all our desire to possess this tangible evidence of a life once lived, we've become oddly squeamish about our dead... According to advocates, home after-death care is... more meaningful for the living."And meaning is where the quest for authenticity should ultimately lead, however you get there.David Pescovitz is co-editor of Boing Boing, a research director at Institute for the Future, and editor-at-large of MAKE.