Why I Choose To Be Cremated

Cedric Mims, a professor of microbiology, has written a great book first published in the U.S. in 1999, entitled, "When We Die. The Science, Culture and Rituals of Death." Why anyone, after reading the book, would want to have a traditional burial is beyond me.


Let me share with you his description of what happens when we are "laid to rest" in a coffin. Hold your nose as we pick up the process on page 122.


"When there is no animal predation, the hair, nails and teeth become detachable within a few weeks, and after a month or so tissues become liquefied, as a result of autolysis and microbial action, and the main body cavities burst open. Putrefaction is generally slower in a coffin, and if it is dry the body remains identifiable for many months. Cracks appear in the skin due to shrinkage and the skin surface begins to look like like old paint.


Moisture helps decay. In places where the body rests against the coffin the skin decomposes, exposing the back of the skull, the back of the shoulder blade, and the tips of the vertebrae. Whitish fungal growths may appear on the skin, often arising from fungal spores that were present in the cosmetic materials used by embalmers. Tendons and ligaments resist decomposition, and also, for unknown reasons, the uterus and the prostate gland, which may survive for a few months. Bones and teeth are even more resistant, and within a year or so all that is left is a skeleton. The bones are still a bit greasy and contain organic material, so that there is a smell of of burning if they are sawn. It takes forty to fifty years for them to become dry and brittle in a coffin or in fairly dry soil.


"And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose" Matt: 27:52 "And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many." Matt: 27:53


"And the children, upon seeing the skeletons rattling through the streets of the holy city were wrought with fear and ran screaming unto the arms of the mothers, yea even teenagers ran, on seeing the skeleton of the dead coming forth and trailing their burial shrouds." GATC 21:17

Just kidding... I made that one up. GATC is short for "The Gospel According to Charlie."

I will never forget the experience of my first visit to New York as a new pilot with Delta Air Lines. I was flabbergasted at the size of the cemetery we passed on the way to our layover hotel. Turns out it was Woodlawn, just one of many cemeteries in the NYC area. It encompasses 20 million square feet. TWENTY MILLION! Twenty million square feet of valuable real estate for what? So that in a thousand years our bodies will have reverted to essentially the same thing they would have reverted to in ten minutes it takes for cremation to turn them back into the most elemental form from which we all originated in the first place; carbon. A thousand years or ten minutes? No difference at all when we are dead.

Unless of course our graves open up and we decide to take our greasy bones for a stroll into town.