Death is natural to all living things, including human beings, which means that individuals cannot avoid it. Since dying is inevitable, people must decide whether to bury or cremate the deceased. Both human remains disposal approaches have advantages and disadvantages. However, since society members have been seeking to make life easier, the burning of bodies is highly beneficial. Therefore, cremation seems an appropriate and eco-friendly method of interment since it is a simple and inexpensive procedure that saves the ground space.
The current world continues to advocate for more environmentally friendly practices. In some cases, interment seems to be safe because people seal the body appropriately before burying it. If individuals are careful, only those who handle the bodies, such as the doctors and mortuary employees, can be infected. However, it is not common for people to follow all the precautions, and therefore, burial is not safe. For this reason, cremation is better than burying the dead because the ash might not have any risk to individuals. This method is environmentally friendly for many reasons, for instance, it does not require the chemicals used to embalm bodies for burial. The substances can get their way into the ground and damage the atmosphere. Besides, burying is expensive for the environment because managing cemeteries requires land, which might not be available in major cities. Experts assert that “excessive urbanization and progressive decreasing of areas intended for cemeteries, represents even more important arguments in favor of cremation” (Radu et al., 2017, p. 434). Therefore, burning the bodies continues to be the most environmentally friendly method that people use to dispose of the dead.
Some funeral homes lessen their clients’ expenses by encouraging direct burials almost immediately after death. However, most individuals love visiting friends and relatives who lose their loved ones, and therefore, mortuaries embalm bodies allowing people to mourn and bury the deceased later. Keeping the bodies in funeral homes is costly, and so, it is highly recommended to cremate, which is usually more affordable. Erichsen (2020) posited that “all corpses must be burned to free the soul from all material matter, and to return it to its primitive elements” (p. 10). This argument means that the deceased will resurrect whether buried or cremated. However, funeral costs are usually too high, and many people on a budget find it hard to spend. For example, since people make caskets from wood, which most likely takes several acres of forest annually, the burials become expensive. Individuals might use this wood in building many homes yearly instead of making the coffins. Generally, cremation expenses are lower than traditional burials, and when individuals choose to burn the bodies, they can conduct funeral services later.
When individuals die, funeral planning overwhelms the family members as they emotionally deal with the loss. Therefore, people would likely be happy if they had a more time-efficient method of interring the deceased. For instance, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is continuously encouraging people to bury their loved ones in the shortest period possible, which can be in 1 to 3 days after the bereavement. According to Sarmiento (2020), health protocols do not allow the COVID-19 bereaved families to perform their funeral practices. Due to this reason, many people do not follow the directions from health professionals. The individuals might be ignorant even when they know that burying soon is cheap and are not likely to get more infections due to the prolonged visits from friends and relatives. Therefore, it is strongly advisable to cremate the body because this practice is more time-efficient, and people might still conveniently visit after that while avoiding overcrowding. Furthermore, cremation does not burden relatives with needless and complex decisions. Therefore, this method is quicker than traditional burials as people save much time when practicing it.
Cremation does not rule out interment ceremonies all the time because people can attend the latter afterward. Relatives and friends can hold funeral services as soon as the experts burn the body. Therefore, people can keep the ashes and might not need to rush in making this choice because they can hold funeral services several days after an individual’s death. According to Lusted (2018), people keep the ashes of their loved ones at home to remember them and honor their memories. Individuals who use this method get adequate time, waiting for their family members who live overseas to arrive. Furthermore, relatives can divide up the ashes and share them with others, for example, their kids who stay away from home, such as overseas or other parts of the nation. Therefore, not all people might need to visit the dead individual’s grave as they share the remains by dividing up the ashes after cremation.
Although cremation is beneficial to people, some individuals still oppose it because they feel that burying permits them to mourn their loved ones and honor their memories adequately. It is normal to have such feelings, but relatives need to understand the several advantages of burning bodies over burials. Cremation is a cheap procedure that individuals use in saving ground space. Furthermore, burning the bodies is environmentally friendly and better than burial, especially in the current world where people fail to follow the COVID-19 precautions. Finally, because cremation does not rule out burying the ashes after burning the bodies, it is highly advisable to use the method as it is more affordable.
References
Erichsen, H. (2020). The cremation of the dead. BoD–books on demand.
Lusted, M. A. (Ed.). (2018). Life after death? Inheritance, burial practices, and family heirlooms. Greenhaven Publishing LLC.
Radu, C. C., Rebeleanu, C., Ureche, D., & Scripcaru, C. (2017). Forensic, ethical and religious issues regarding the cremation process. Romanian Journal of Legal Medicine, 25(4), 432-434. Web.
Sarmiento, P. J. D. (2020). Changing landscapes of death and burial practices: Public health response in time of COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Public Health, 1-2. Web.