What is your plan? Bob Dylan wrote the song “The Times They are a Changing” as a '60s era attempt towards change during those times. Not to dwell on the ultimate end of the Boomers road too much, but shouldn't we all have an end-of-the-road plan in place?
We all know that, like taxes, death is a certainty, but hopefully still a long way off. For centuries, religious or societal burial traditions changed little. This is not the case anymore, times they are a-changing.
Decisions at Death are Changing
In 1960 cremation rates in the US were under 4%. According to the National Funeral Directors Association, burial rates in 2010 were 53.3%. Today in 2020, traditional burial and cremation rates are changing and have flip-flopped. Cremation in 2020 is projected at 56%. By 2040, projections peg cremation rates at over 78% and burial just 16%. Times are a-changing.
So again, what's your end-of-life plan? Many factors have driven these changes, with cost acting as a primary driver. Add-ons for funerals can vary, but for primary burial vs. cremation costs, cremation is about 1/3 of the burial cost. Few in the US are raised, live their working lives, and retire in the same place these days. So the question is raised; where would we be buried? Another change from the'60s is that today most religious groups, other than Islam, no longer oppose cremation.
But what about all those great cemeteries? As my family well knows, I cannot drive by a cemetery without making some comment. I guess I am called a Taphophile; I love the old cemeteries with their great headstones, mausoleums, family plots, and family history. Is all this great future history going to just disappear?
Neither my maternal or paternal family, as far as I am aware, has family plots anywhere. My wife's maternal family has members buried together that dates back into the late 1800s in the same cemetery. I think that is pretty cool. If we all start getting cremated, how will future generations ever have an opportunity to visit and get a sense of their families' history?
Changing Options of Cremation
Cost is a significant driver; I get it. If your ashes in an Urn are where you end up, how do you know where they will be in 20 or 40 years? How will you know they aren't in the bottom of a box buried in some storage locker, forgotten. That is not what I have in mind for where I'd like my remains to spend a part of my eternity, and I cannot believe it would be yours either. There are choices of where your ashes end up, but you must do some advanced planning.
One of our four boys already has this figured out for himself. His plan is to be cremated and then to have his ashes buried under a sapling tree. So his ashes would live on in the tree as it grows and spreads its branches during its tree life. Not a bad idea, especially since he loved to climb to the highest point of trees as a youngster and teenager.
Ashes under a tree sapling might be my plan too. Our family has a special place way up north. The idea of future generations leaning against the tree that my ashes grew from seems like a pretty cool idea. But I would miss the future Taphophiles who would not see my headstone out in a rural cemetery under an old oak tree, looking out across the plains.
It is a tough decision but one that we all must soon come to terms with for ourselves. We've still got a lot of living to do, but we also know that these times are a-changing. There always is an end-of-the-#BoomerRoad.
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Through the Eyes of Regular Boomers
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