See? The Washington Post still has some uses! A recent sort-of, kind-of, tongue-in-cheek essay by Rick Reilly raised an issue that has gnawed at my consciousness for a long time, namely the practice of scattering a loved one’s cremated remains in public places. A brief summary of my gut reaction: “Ick!”
Reilly writes in part,
Can you stop scattering your dearly departed’s ashes all over my favorite golf course? I want to play Pebble Beach, not your grandpa….Oh, and please stop littering your labradoodle’s ashes on the beach near my house. (A) Cremated remains include tiny fragments of bone and teeth and God knows what else, (B) I run there — barefoot, dammit — and (C) It’s illegal for dogs to be on the beach, whether on a leash or in a Folgers can. In fact, this obsession with unauthorized scattering of dead things all over America’s prettiest places needs to perish, too. Our most famous ballyards deal with these messes all the time….How many Cubs base runners have slipped rounding people’s uncles?
That’s pretty much the flavor of the whole piece, but as it coincides with a bias of mine—I think scattering ashes is pagan nonsense and stupid—it has the ring of truth. (And Tom Cruise sure didn’t love getting covered with the stuff in “War of the Worlds.”) The author concludes,
…3.2 million people die every year in America, and, according to the National Funeral Directors Association, 62 percent ask to be cremated. That’s more than double the rate 20 years ago. And nearly half say they “would prefer to have their remains scattered in a sentimental place.” Which would mean nearly a million incinerated Americans annually coating the sequoias at Yosemite and choking the loons on Golden Pond and sprinkling the churros of Santa Monica. It’s just bad taste.
Is it “ick,” unethical, or a perfectly loving and spiritual practice? As usual with the ethics quizzes here, I have my mind open at least a crack.
Your Ethics Alarms Ethics Quiz of the Day is…
Ethics Alarms 
For me, it is disrespectful, demeaning to deceased, whether human or other.
I’ve always said that I would want my ashes mixed in with the seed mix at my favorite golf course… after all, I was all over the course when I was alive, why not be all over it after I’m gone…
Seriously though… when my FIL passed, my wife took about a tablespoon full and dropped it into Lake Tahoe, where they vacationed every year when she was a kid… We buried my dad’s urn complete and unopened in his hometown of Cape Tormentine NB.
Cheers from western Colorado, Mike
For me there’s an “ick” factor that makes it seem tacky, but I don’t think it’s especially unsanitary, at least not more so than every other source of germs you’d find on the ground in an outdoor environment.
I plan on being made into a brick that can be used as a doorstop etc.
When ash, like second hand smoke can impact others, the easy conclusion is that the practice of scattering is unethical. Arlington cemetery might be a bit less tidy if casting about became the norm. But the ocean? Why not? There would be hardly any impact considering erosion from beaches and sediment from rivers.
Space Mountain is a different story. I can imagine a long line of people all holding urn waiting for their turn to take grampy for one last ride before launching him into “space”.
I don’t get the ick factor. Things die everyday and are consumed naturally. People are the only ones that create a ceremony over a death. The choices are burial or cremation.
Burial requires a concrete vault and an expensive metal or wood coffin neither of which are water proof. Burial also requires the infusion of highly toxic chemicals into the body to preserve it until burial. Upon burial the body over a period of time putrefies. Because the vault is not watertight the emulsion of the remains and the chemicals leech into the ground water. This does not even include the opportunity cost of the land for the cemetery and its perennial upkeep.
The other option is cremation is which the body is immediately incinerated rendering it absolutely sterile. No pathogens can use it for food as might happen to a body left out in the wild so it cannot hurt you.
If you don’t want to run on a beach because you might be running on the remains of some one how is that different than running on a beach the is comprised primarily of dead things like pink coral sands. You need not go to an exotic place to find dead things in the sand because most because incorporate the calcified remnants of living organisms.
I plan to be cremated and the ashes incorporated into an artificial reef. The cost is significantly lower than a traditional funeral and I become one with the environment and a protective home for young marine life to get a jump start on life. The only difference I see between scattering ones ashes in the sea or on land in some special place is that mine will remain in one place. Those who find it repulsive to swim where cremated remains have been deposited should just stay out of the water because where do you think the human waste often winds up.
Theologically speaking who decided that a body must be buried. Jesus was laid to rest in a cave that served as a crypt much like native Americans did for thousands of years. Some tribes placed their deceased in platforms so that they had an unfettered route to the sky and their gods.
Where is it written that bodies must be buried under ground in order to get to heaven. We deliver the deceased whole to the sea. I can understand why governments create laws on the disposition of remains for public health reasons but given the cremation is an approved method it should be considered as sanitary or better than burial or in an above ground vault. A Christian burial simply means the prayers are to Jesus the savior but a Jewish burial does not. I assume Muslims have their own prayers and cremation at the Ganges is a Hindu rite. I don’t think God cares in what shape your body is in when your soul arrives at the gates of heaven.
There is a 3rd option besides types of burial and cremation: cadavers can be donated to science and medical schools.
… though I guess I don’t know what happened to the body after it’s all sliced up? I’m guessing cremated.
Both of my late wife’s parents had their remains donated to science. Grace had nightmares about them hanging from hooks like in “Coma.”
Better than picked up and loaded into trash trucks to be turned into Soylent Green
IT’S PEOPLE!!!!!!!
The remains are cremated and returned to the family when the donee is finished with them.
If everything were truly cremated – then it’s ick, because it’s just carbon.
But since some components are not truly cremated then yes, you’re spreading deceased body parts however fragmented, in public places. And to some degree or another, that has to have health implications.
Are they any more increased risks here than any other aspect of life? I don’t know.
But funerals are for the benefit of the living, not the dead. We go to them to remind ourselves that we won’t be forgotten and treated with indignity when our time comes.
It’s a supreme act of narcissism for the soon-to-be-deceased to make this request and expect the rest of the population to be fine with their remains anywhere and everywhere simply because it would be known to induce “ick”.
If we were still a theologically inclined people, there’d be plenty of symbolic reasons not even to be cremated at all let alone cremated and dispersed.
I might be biased. I’m a federal criminal. I’ve related my story about how when my father died, he wanted to be cremated, he wanted his remains to be kept in a red, metal toolbox, and he wanted to be mailed from the crematorium to the funeral, because, quote “I’ve carried their asses for 40 years, they can carry mine for once.” Resulting in a (retrospectively) darkly funny moment where he was almost late for his own funeral because the mail was late. This was technically illegal, but I did it. I think my example is probably worse than most, because everything going well was moral luck: If something happened to the package and dad ended up being scattered in a Canada Post backroom, that wouldn’t be great. And if you want to hear about “ick”, a friend of the family had her fathers ashes mixed into tattoo ink and got something done on her arm.
As for the rest… I can’t count the numbers of times I was running on the beach and saw a half rotted fish skeleton. I’m sorry, I can’t take seriously the idea that someone’s ashes are a bridge too far, when you’re already traversing dogshit and corpses. Sorry Mysophobics, but outside public places are dirty: Fish pee in that water! Birds shit everywhere! There are literally germs everywhere. There’s harmful bacteria on your skin, right now, that if introduced into your bloodstream would start eating your flesh. The dust in the wind? Probably some percentage fecal matter. Is that a public sandbox, or the world’s largest cat litter box? The cat doesn’t know. You’re not supposed to stick your hands in your mouth after touching things, particularly outside, because we already know that there’s stuff out there that you don’t want in you. Let’s not pretend we’re dusting up pristine, sterile environments with deadly pathogens here. Cremated remains are sterilized by the cremation process, they are literally less harmful than what you’re currently tracking around on your shoes right now.
Unless you can articulate a reason why someone’s ashes might actually constitute a problem, then it’s probably not. There’s a line between harmless and harmful, and it doesn’t seem like it’s all that hard to parse. Using the examples from the article: Scattering ashes on a quiet beach: Absolutely fine. Releasing them on a Disney ride that they have to shut down for cleaning: Not fine. Scattering ashes in national parks: Free fertilizer. Air bombing ashes over the prison your loved one spent time in so he could “haunt the guards”: No bueno.