Planning My Funeral //

I am not suicidal, and I do not particularly want to die at this point in time. I am not afraid of death, though, and I know that eventually, I will die like everyone else. Today I went exploring a Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Dexter, ME, with my grandfather, and as we was walking around, he was telling me stories about the names I read. "So-and-so died this way," and "when Mrs. X was 10, she did this thing." Remembering both their life and death made me realize that death is, in fact, just another piece in the circle of life. It's just another part of living. So why then is it that we, as humans, fear death? //

If you're not religious, I can see how it's sad, since you believe that you'll never see that person again. If you are religious, you can hope you'll meet again in heaven, but even so, that within itself isn't guaranteed. Sometimes, people die in awful ways. Sometimes they're too young. Watching peoples' lives slip away can be so heartbreaking. I can see why humans view death as a bad thing, but it really shouldn't be seen as such. Death itself isn't bad, but rather, it's the way in which people die. When you really think about it and get down to the basics, death is quite beautiful. A creature gets to end it's time on this complex and sometimes very dark planet called Earth. They no longer feel pain; just peace. Finally, they are rewarded for making it through the most blessed and cursed gift on Earth (the gift of life.) I personally believe that no one is ever really gone, and that makes the idea of death a bit easier to grapple with. No matter what happens after death, we live on in the memories of others. Pieces of us are left littered all over the Earth, whether it be a tall tree we planted, or a pearl necklace we passed down through our family. I think that naturally, a person's energy lives on in the wind and the rain, even after their body is gone. //

While out in the cemetery, I also learned that instead of being cremated or chemically preserved, you can be composted after death. That's what I want. I want my body to be made into soil that can breathe life into another being. I want my body to be taken by a farmer, who will plant grass on me, and let his cows graze upon my back. I want the cows to eat from my harvest, and live happily. I want them to produce milk to feed the farmers young child and give her the calcium she needs to grow strong. And I want remains to be buried deep in the Earth, forming the infrastructure of a child's playground, or a community garden. When I'm dead and gone, not only do I want my energy to live on and breathe life into others, but I also want my physical body to help give life to something else. Death is just another part in the grand circle of life, and I want my existence after death to be natural and magical, as it should be. //

Photos from Mt. Pleasat Cemetery: