COTD Book 2/3

Precis: At sea burials, for both sailors and non-veterans, as well as turning the ashes of the deceased can provide better closure for families at less of a risk and more of a benefit for the enviorment.

Quotes:

• It's hard to celebrate someone's life when his dead body is sitting there in the room. It's the big pink elephant you just can't get around (page 49)
• The grief of losing a parent adored was mixed with the solace of knowing that the woman who suffered such mental and emotion turmoil in her final years had died quietly in her sleep and was now, at last, at peace. (page 50)
• The pieces of metal were once part of a living person. We don't throw them away like they were garbage. (page 63)
• I was overcome with this huge, profound feeling of release. I still felt the loss of my father, but scattering the ashes took away that crushing grief. It was almost like, 'It's OK now.' (page 72) 
• If the person you want to bury at sea is active-duty, onetime, or retired military of any branch of service, (not dishonorably discharged).... (pg 84)
• Place memorial reefs near beach attractions and families are more likely to come bacl and remember their loved ones. (pg 92)

Analysis:
The span of these few chapters covered a variety of material. Something that I found odd was that, when speaking of cremation, the book doubled back to mentioning a traditional burial. In the middle of doing so, it brought up the constant reminder the coffin making companies stress; no matter what, all bodies will decompose eventually. I found this odd to be placed in more cremated orientated chapters but I suppose it can fit. When one comes in to cremate a loved one, they are asked to provide a container of sorts for the sake of privacy out of respect for the families and dead. Still, I found it down right ridiculous that anyone would possibly think a body wouldn't decompose once it had died. Furthermore, I thought it strange that the cremation groups had to get families to sign off on a paper saying that they understood why pacemakers and joint replacements had to be replaced for safety precautions. To me, while the machine clearly was a part of the deceased, I don't think there should be a reason for them to be valued the same as a literal, functioning, flesh part of the body. I would rather see these pieces donated or reused somehow than put to waste in a mass burial like the group on page 63 described. To me, by them dumping all these pieces in a mass burial site once a year is hypocritical, if they value these pieces so much than anonomously putting them into a specific cemetary mass burial is nothing more than a glorified landfill.