Up until the moment when a body passes from mother, husband, daughter to dead mother, dead husband, dead daughter, it is part of a community. A member of a family. Yet as soon as a person dies, the family seems to want nothing more that to get rid of the body as soon as possible. Call the funeral home to come and whisk the body away into the night in the back of an unmarked van. To where, they do not know. For what, they do not know.
The question is why. Is it true that the modern family is a slave to the siren song of capitalism, delighted that they can simply pay someone else to do the dirty work for them? The Order argues that more families would choose to take responsibility for their own dead if they knew that it was a possibility.
In the past 75 years the use of a funeral home has become the norm. So much so that our collective memory has forgotten that for thousands of years of human history your family was your burden from cradle to grave. There was no option to shift responsibility to a funeral director or mortician. You washed the body, shrouded or dressed the body, sat with the body, and finally accompanied the body to the grave or crematory.
To take care of your own dead loved one you must remember 2 things:
- Dead bodies are NOT dangerous. Unless the person died of a highly contagious disease, they present no threat to you.
- Taking care of the dead is NOT illegal. Find out the law in your own state/country: It may be that you will require some assistance from your local mortician or funeral director. Click here for some excellent info for the US and Canada.
Taking care of someone you love after they have died is not the easy option.
Grief is not easy.
Facing your own mortality is not easy.
But it is right.
