I dont think death should be feared because its the only thing every single person is guaranteed to go through eventually. No matter how rich, powerful or important someone is they cant escape it, so spending ur whole life scared of it just wastes the time u actually have. Death gives life meaning because if we lived forever nothing would really matter anymore.

Its sad when people die of course but being afraid of death itself doesnt change anything, it just stops u from enjoying the life ur living now. Nobody knows what happens after death and thats okay because worrying about something u cant control only makes life harder. I think its better to accept that its part of being human and focus on making the most of the time we got.

I’ve always read about this odor. Authors describe it as “something unmistakable” but rarely provide any sort of scent related description that would have prepared me. I imagined a fecal notes or maybe the smell of blood? Now that I’ve been working at a funeral home the smell is more mundane than I expected. Still not pleasant and at times downright revolting but not in the ways I expected. It is actually very difficult to describe. There’s a hint of mold & old but otherwise it’s just strange. If it was visible I’d see it as a dark greenish vapor hanging in the air. But yeah I feel like I wouldn’t immediately recognize it as “the smell of death” and maybe once the bodies are prepared or in a mortuary setting it gets mixed in with the chemicals. Maybe I’m just smelling formaldehyde? Again it’s not pleasant in any sense, but I’ve definitely encountered worse nasally. Overall, I find myself a bit underwhelmed. Just some thoughts I’ve had recently lol

From wikipedia: In 1890, a family designed and built a burial vault at the Wildwood Cemetery) in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, with an internal hatch to allow the victim of accidental premature burial to escape. The vault had an air supply and was lined in felt to protect a panic-stricken victim from self-inflicted injury before the escape. Bodies were to be removed from the casket before interment

A traditional cemetery burial in San Diego County can cost $12,000 to $13,000 before optional upgrades, according to Singing Hills Memorial Park in El Cajon. Nationally, the median cost of a traditional funeral with burial is about $8,300, according to the National Funeral Directors Association.

A growing community movement encourages people to speak candidly about death, reshaping how we plan, grieve, and connect in loss.

Just got done celebrating my sister’s graduation party. It was really boujie compared to mine. I don’t have an issue with that at all. It’s what my parents said to me. “Don’t worry, we’ll go all out for your wedding”. I practically told them I don’t see myself getting married anytime soon. I see myself ending up in a casket before that even happens. Most people have an idea on what their future wedding would look like. I’m not one of those people. Instead, I got my burial all figured out like what colored casket, flowers, picture to use and obituary. Want it to be more of a celebration of life if anything. I hope that’s not morbid of me to think like that.

Mine is: We all have two lives, the second one starts when you realize you only have one.

“She Chose Grace Over Fear”: Jennifer Grey Revealed That Her Mom Died “On Her Own Terms” Just One Week After Being Diagnosed With Cancer, And It’s Sparked An Important Conversation. Death is inevitable. Choosing to die with dignity is a basic human right that we should all be afforded.”

We’re far from the only intelligent or complex life forms in this world and even the wider universe, even if our kind is prone to “culture” in a way that we have yet to discover in other beings.

We have evidence of early humans and their anticipation of death and its implications, prehistoric funerary rites and ancestor veneration has been here as long as we have been aware of ourselves. Before religion existed as we know it, there was death and our understanding of it as the very thing that ends our consciousness and awareness of anything, and forever we have either feared it or respected it, because we know that our senses aren’t eternal.

It’s this that makes me wonder, are other creatures burdened with this sort of forethought of the end of their existence as they know it? I know that there are birds like corvids that have been observed holding “funerals” for dead, it’s as though they know something has occurred and they treat it uniquely as though they know this individual of their group is no longer. Some animals can see each other as individuals in a way, like how dolphins supposedly have “names” and said birds can recognise others, even humans for a long time.

Does this mean, that these select few can also anticipate the end of their life? I know every creature has survival instincts, I know everything understands there is a concept of ceasing to exist and maintaining their population in the ecosystem and thus they are wired to avoid it any way possible. But are we humans the only ones who truly think as emotionally and deeply?

Animals know it, they fear it when they are hunted, sick, etc but why is it that we are burdened with the question of what happens after? Why are we so concerned about ceasing to exist? We still have no clue about the whole problem of consciousness and what it actually IS (well, there’s hypotheses obviously) but we can’t measure it as though it’s just a substance or a specific process that can be seen or recorded.

Us modern people still have our survival instincts and our physical anticipation of death or danger, but I just think it’s truly a bizarre feat of odds that we have survived over all these millennia to develop so much brain-wise that we now have a whole existential awareness that makes natural cycles seem so much more difficult and daunting. Do we fight harder than animals to avoid death? Because perhaps the animals haven’t ever developed that individual ego and awareness of the self? They don’t seem to fear losing memories or feeling, mostly just whatever implications their defeat might have on the wider species due to biological drives.

I just don’t understand I guess? What good is it for nature to evolve creatures that will do anything to avoid inevitable death, is it that we are now advanced enough to keep our numbers high so in some way, there will always be life on this planet? We do reproduce a lot, and we have no apex predators above us to worry about in most corners of the world, so is it when we started to outwit our predators that we gained self-worth and thus fear of non-existence? Weird

Would you rather be celebrated or mourned when you die? and why?

When her mother passed after battling Alzheimer’s, Suzanne Simard turned to the forest and her research into how trees support one another to help process her grief.

Even those who cannot see can see just as well as those who can. Death can come any time and bring that kind of silence that is loud. Everyone can deny the existence of what the eye cannot see, but death will always, and always be—just here, and just right there.

I might not feeling the most positive these days the more I learn how our society works, but personally I am looking forward to passing away one day because it will be so peaceful. There will be nothing to worry about.

One thing I’ve realized is that we are too avoidant of the idea of death. The amount people spend on trying to extend their lives and to stay youthful. The idea of heaven or reincarnation. The things we do to delude ourselves our lives will continue forever. We try so so hard to find meanings or purpose in our meaningless lives.

Most of us will not be in a position to make a dent or impact in history or society. Most of us are just another being born involuntarily, and then somehow we have to find a way to survive. It’s all a bit absurd 😂

Whenever I see people around me, sometimes I picture all of us disappearing one day, so maybe we should just relax a bit and be kind to each other during this short journey together.

Written for an Australian audience, but a great breakdown for anyone to read.

Looking for books that explain mortality and/or cemeteries to children. Let me know!