Planning for the One Sure Thing
This article belongs to Ezine.com - it was the first article I ever had the confidence to publish - even though everyone who knew me always said I could write. I'm happy to say it was picked up by a number of websites. And one of my sisters-in-law paid me a great compliment when i asked her if she'd read the article I emailed to her. She said yes, that it was great. Told her I wrote it. And she exclaimed that she'd thought it was from a professional writer! I was chuffed!
One website says this about the author (me)
"Feyisola Tinubu is a champion in this field. Feyisola has written several articles in the past on this topic." That was entirely THEIR claim, NOT mine!
I have added a sentence on "ants & worms' though.
Read On!
117 people dead in Bellview plane crash in Nigeria. The crash site is littered with bits of metal that used to be a plane and strips of fabric and charred body bits and pieces. It is a sad and sobering scene - the piteous wailing of spouses, children, parents, friends. How to console them? No one can.
The crash brought home to me the fact that though death is the one sure thing in this existence of ours, it is the one thing we are always the least prepared for - be it our death or the death of someone close to us. As a people, we refuse to plan our funeral services, the way and the how of our burial, because we think it's morbid. But is it really? Is it morbid to plan for the one, sure and inevitable event of our lives? After all, we plan for "expected? events and for "eventualities? - both of these types of occurrences may or may not occur - yet we expend a reasonable amount of resources planning them.
I have decided to get down to the business of planning the how and the way I am buried, assuming my body is available for burial! If it is lost or not available, for some reason, then I shall plan for that eventuality too.
I would prefer to be cremated but each time I say that, my husband gets quite upset so I have set that particular wish aside. I would also like my body parts donated to save a life if possible but that is dependent on if I'm at a usable' state and age when I die! This wish also gives my husband grief but I am not ready to back down on that since I am of the belief that if I can help someone live by my death, then I would have done at least one good thing on this earth. Surely, that will mitigate punishment for my sins?
Back to the way I am to be buried - if I donate my body parts, then what will be left for burial? Not very much, and that brings me back to cremation. In my opinion, it is the most practical way to deal with the shell that is left when the spirit departs. Plus, i do not really want the ants and the worms to get me! I have no moral or religious objections to that particular mode of disposal. My Christian brethren feel that the body should be buried so that it is available for the "final resurrection? that is spoken of in the Bible. That, in my humble opinion, belittles God's power and awesomeness and, more importantly, is a total loss of the true meaning of that resurrection. It is a resurrection of souls and not of physical bodies. And, if it were physical bodies, God is able to create those from nothing - after all, He created the world from the void, did He not? What are your objections to cremation?
Funeral services make me cry, and it does not matter that I never knew the soul for whom it is being held. They remind me that no longer will their loved ones be able to see or touch them, converse with them, hear their voice - all physical manifestations of the way we communicate as humans. And that is what makes death so painful, this loss of physical manifestations of communication. If we were still able to do even one, we would not mourn so much; if only the departed ones could tell us, in some way that they were okay in their new abode, we'd grieve less; if we could only tell them, and be sure they hear, that we love them so and that the harsh and/or nasty words uttered at the last quarrel/misunderstanding we had meant nothing and all is forgiven we'd feel less guilty. I have totally digressed! I was simply planning my funeral service (or farewell service should there be nothing to bury!) and the way my last remains should be disposed of. I want Mass said for me, for I am Catholic (probably will always be, no matter the number of Pentecostal services I attend). A short Mass with a sermon lasting all of 5 minutes, after which my remains are disposed of in the manner my husband or children or siblings choose (obviously, my husband will choose a normal burial - all body parts intact!). Thereafter, a reception where people can talk about me and reminisce - recalling the things they liked and did not like about me. I would like to think I would be remembered with tremendous love and affection by those I will leave behind, old and young alike. I would want them to be able to laugh through their tears at their memories of me. I have tried to live my life in a manner that I am remembered with affection and amusement by those I have come in contact with or whose lives I have touched in some way. I can safely say that there are few who dislike or hate me - my personality is not such that elicits such strong negative feelings! Or is it? What do you think? I have been described as "sweet?, "nice? adjectives which I find quite dull and uninspiring. I would like to be described as "inspirational? or "amazing? or something equally great! Oh, well, a person can hope, can they not?
When I die and I meet my maker, God probably will not tell me well done' because I know that His gifts to me have not been properly used by me, but He will be able to say at least you tried!? For me, that will be enough.
One website says this about the author (me)
"Feyisola Tinubu is a champion in this field. Feyisola has written several articles in the past on this topic." That was entirely THEIR claim, NOT mine!
I have added a sentence on "ants & worms' though.
Read On!
117 people dead in Bellview plane crash in Nigeria. The crash site is littered with bits of metal that used to be a plane and strips of fabric and charred body bits and pieces. It is a sad and sobering scene - the piteous wailing of spouses, children, parents, friends. How to console them? No one can.
The crash brought home to me the fact that though death is the one sure thing in this existence of ours, it is the one thing we are always the least prepared for - be it our death or the death of someone close to us. As a people, we refuse to plan our funeral services, the way and the how of our burial, because we think it's morbid. But is it really? Is it morbid to plan for the one, sure and inevitable event of our lives? After all, we plan for "expected? events and for "eventualities? - both of these types of occurrences may or may not occur - yet we expend a reasonable amount of resources planning them.
I have decided to get down to the business of planning the how and the way I am buried, assuming my body is available for burial! If it is lost or not available, for some reason, then I shall plan for that eventuality too.
I would prefer to be cremated but each time I say that, my husband gets quite upset so I have set that particular wish aside. I would also like my body parts donated to save a life if possible but that is dependent on if I'm at a usable' state and age when I die! This wish also gives my husband grief but I am not ready to back down on that since I am of the belief that if I can help someone live by my death, then I would have done at least one good thing on this earth. Surely, that will mitigate punishment for my sins?
Back to the way I am to be buried - if I donate my body parts, then what will be left for burial? Not very much, and that brings me back to cremation. In my opinion, it is the most practical way to deal with the shell that is left when the spirit departs. Plus, i do not really want the ants and the worms to get me! I have no moral or religious objections to that particular mode of disposal. My Christian brethren feel that the body should be buried so that it is available for the "final resurrection? that is spoken of in the Bible. That, in my humble opinion, belittles God's power and awesomeness and, more importantly, is a total loss of the true meaning of that resurrection. It is a resurrection of souls and not of physical bodies. And, if it were physical bodies, God is able to create those from nothing - after all, He created the world from the void, did He not? What are your objections to cremation?
Funeral services make me cry, and it does not matter that I never knew the soul for whom it is being held. They remind me that no longer will their loved ones be able to see or touch them, converse with them, hear their voice - all physical manifestations of the way we communicate as humans. And that is what makes death so painful, this loss of physical manifestations of communication. If we were still able to do even one, we would not mourn so much; if only the departed ones could tell us, in some way that they were okay in their new abode, we'd grieve less; if we could only tell them, and be sure they hear, that we love them so and that the harsh and/or nasty words uttered at the last quarrel/misunderstanding we had meant nothing and all is forgiven we'd feel less guilty. I have totally digressed! I was simply planning my funeral service (or farewell service should there be nothing to bury!) and the way my last remains should be disposed of. I want Mass said for me, for I am Catholic (probably will always be, no matter the number of Pentecostal services I attend). A short Mass with a sermon lasting all of 5 minutes, after which my remains are disposed of in the manner my husband or children or siblings choose (obviously, my husband will choose a normal burial - all body parts intact!). Thereafter, a reception where people can talk about me and reminisce - recalling the things they liked and did not like about me. I would like to think I would be remembered with tremendous love and affection by those I will leave behind, old and young alike. I would want them to be able to laugh through their tears at their memories of me. I have tried to live my life in a manner that I am remembered with affection and amusement by those I have come in contact with or whose lives I have touched in some way. I can safely say that there are few who dislike or hate me - my personality is not such that elicits such strong negative feelings! Or is it? What do you think? I have been described as "sweet?, "nice? adjectives which I find quite dull and uninspiring. I would like to be described as "inspirational? or "amazing? or something equally great! Oh, well, a person can hope, can they not?
When I die and I meet my maker, God probably will not tell me well done' because I know that His gifts to me have not been properly used by me, but He will be able to say at least you tried!? For me, that will be enough.
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