Everyone should choose what happens to their remains,whatever the pope saysI had been showing my sons Japanese in-laws around Highgate cemetery, telling them what a doughty collection of fascinating minds and souls had the pleasure of each other’s company here. Yet afterwards I was struck with unexpected melancholy, and as it hit me what a lonely thing it is to live out eternity far from the human interactions most of us have with family and friends while we are alive,and that lying in a chill grave alongside the commonest of beings or the greatest intellects was no consolation.
What I would like, I announced to my son and daughter-in-law, or is to have my ashes kept in some container nothing flash,a box will do – in the domestic we share and which my son intends to support. I could be an ethereal presence among the family, listening in to the quotidian chatter and arguments, or privy to all that the keepers of the family DNA say and do. At which my daughter-in-law gave me a radiant smile and said that was fine with her. In Japan,they support the ashes of their loved ones in a shrine at domestic so that relatives can hold fond rituals, have a chat or even seek consolation from remembered wisdom of their elders, and she would happily do the same for me. My son nodded: “If it’s what you want,that’s what we’ll do.Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com