It Costs Money to Die

[Lorin Jenis]

The cost of an average funeral with burial services today is $7,000 to $10,000. Even the least expensive casket costs almost $2,000. Naturally I wondered what would happen if someone didn’t have the money. If a person is too poor to die, what then? 

I will tell you a true story. My deceased grandfather knocked at my door one day. "Grandpa, you're still alive!" "Honey, I couldn't afford to die. You know we never had much money. I'm livin' in that ol' shack up on the ridge." "Well why didn't you tell me?" "They make you sign a paper sayin' you won't tell anyone. Then they let you walk out of the hospital."

It seems that when my grandfather was about to die some gentlemen came into his hospital room. 

"Mr. Madison, we have reviewed your financial status and we see that you are unable to afford any of our burial plans. Are you sure that your family can't help you? "No sir, my granddaughter ain’t got no money either." "Mr. Madison, would you please sign this paper." They helped my grandfather sign the paper. He was very weak, lying in bed, so they had to hold it in front of him on a clip board. They placed a pen in his hand. "Thank you, Mr. Madison. You are free to go." So he got up and walked out the door.

Since God loves the poor, that must be the new life that Jesus talks about.

A group of the same gentlemen that talked to my grandfather in the hospital visited my neighbor in her home one day. "Mrs. Cluney, you just can't afford to die. You'll have to stay alive until you can pay for one of our burial services. But we do have a lay-away plan. Pay just $50 a month and when your account has accumulated sufficient funds we will let you die." "No thank you, I would just as soon stay alive, if you please."

Now you can see what a worthy cause an Impoverished Persons Burial Fund would be. So many good people are waiting to die, we ought to help them out.

All of those poor people must be living somewhere. There are supposed to be cities in a “hollow earth” and maybe that is where they go. That might be what Jesus meant when he said that the poor inherit the earth. But the rich people who can afford to die, die and go somewhere else. I have heard that they go to Planet Midas. On Planet Midas, since everybody has already touched almost everything there is very little to eat. That is why they are so fashionably thin. But they get all the gold they want.
 

[khol]

We have a green cemetary close to where I live.No casket. No toxic embalming fluid. Body is wrapped in cloth and layed in the ground. No headstone. Trees are allowed to grow back. There is a memorial area that shows the names of people in the cemetary and general location. Plots are 1500 to $2000 I think ?

This is what I will be doing. I like the approach. The body naturally being absorbed by the earth..finding its way into the trees and plants.Its a nice thought

[Opus Magnus]

Yeah, I don't think it makes much sense to be embalmed. It makes more sense to fade away, or be cremated. I don't see why you would want to leave your body preserved to be messed with.

[MWoo7]

On 7/15/2018 at 9:37 PM, Opus Magnus said:

Yeah, I don't think it makes much sense to be embalmed. It makes more sense to fade away, or be cremated. I don't see why you would want to leave your body preserved to be messed with.

I Agree / Concur  ... embalmed?!?!? bleep! just strange, I mean I wouldn't want to be burned on a rack of twigs or left in the sun for the birds but a simple pine box burial PERFECT!!!!!  Embalmed pffft!!!!! yeah that's like dead guy on a stick, ..as a kid AND I WASN'T THE ONLY ONE, I was thinking being dragged off to whatever flavor of religious fun I guess, was thinking? wtf drinking its blood, eating its body, dead guy on a stick will be pist if he comes back, no doubt about it .. adults.. freaking weirdos adults.. just strange..where in the world do these ideas come from?

Edited August 8, 2018 by MWoo7

[Harte]

On 7/15/2018 at 11:37 PM, Opus Magnus said:

Yeah, I don't think it makes much sense to be embalmed. It makes more sense to fade away, or be cremated. I don't see why you would want to leave your body preserved to be messed with.

I think the idea of a viewing and an open casket funeral are both too gruesome for me.

I would agree about cremation. It's reasonably cheap and there's nothing preventing any sort of memorial service anyone wants to hold. At whatever level of venue or spending.

Most of the comfort for the grieving comes in at wakes and the funeral after party (so to speak) anyway.

And the deceased doesn't care about that one way or the other.

Harte

[StarMountainKid]

In my little town in Tennessee there's a plot of land where indigent people are buried, costing nothing. There are two funeral homes in town, they take turns handling these burials. The person is buried in a pine box with a small headstone with their name on it.

I'm not sure if it's the city or county that takes care of this.

[freetoroam]

We got a green burial ground near where i am, that will do me just fine too. 

I really like that idea,  my remains will go within nature.