Would You Be Brave Enough To Stare Your Own Death In The Face?
When you are facing uncertainty in life, what do you do? You might respond with: going to see a therapist, meditating, saying a prayer for guidance, writing in a journal or having a cup of coffee and a heart to heart with a trusted friend. Something a bit more strange is taking hold in Asia, a practice which is designed to help a person take an introspective look at themselves is picking up steam. What is this trend you may ask? A mock funeral. A mock funeral, and that’s what it sounds like: a person’s funeral is being hosted in a coffin while friends and family tell stories about them, and they would learn the honest truth about themselves. This would be done in in hopes of helping the person grow spiritually and emotionally.
Would you want to have a mock funeral? Would you be brave enough to stare your own death in the face?
Personally, I believe in a spirit realm and therefore I believe that when I die I will have the capacity to know what people are saying at my funeral. I don’t know if I’ll fully listen because I might not want to know if people who weren’t in my life all that much make a big deal about the few times that they held the door for me or said hi to me while I was in the store. I think that what happens now is what matters. I want to remember every day that I spend with people I love and if the time comes and I leave my body, I will cover my ears and sing while people speak about me at my funeral. I’d rather people show me that they love me now.
I asked several of my friends and family this question. Here are their answers:
Becky Hulslander: “No, that’d be weird!”
Sarah Harris: “I don’t want a funeral. I want people to go out for beers and talk about the good times.”
Jessica Willing: “Yep, but only to ensure that my final demand of karaoke to Queen’s ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ is adhered to.”
Jess Knueppel: “I think that depends on if you believe in the afterlife or not and how that soul comes back. I know people who were cremated then their family members scattered their ashes over oceans, lakes, etc. The thought of a burning a human terrifies me, but so does the thought of decomposition of a body in a casket. But to refrain from getting too morbid, I’m not sure if I would want to be present at my own wake/funeral because I might be surprised at the attendance of some people but pissed others didn’t attend.”
Kelsey Jordan: “I don’t want a funeral. I want to be planted into a tree. I think everyone should honestly. Cemeteries are a waste of space. We could be giving back seeing that we take so much from the earth. Like we are running out of trees yet continue to make fields of bodies buried in boxes made of those trees???”
What are your thoughts?