Ashes to Ashes

I’ve been thinking, quite a bit recently, about my own mortality, which makes a bit of sense with all of the 9/11 commemorations of this past weekend. It’s a natural segue. But, 9/11 wasn’t really the impetus for this train of thought. My last birthday was. I find my self reading the obituaries more than ever and recognizing names. In fact, it has become a daily ritual to read the obits and see if my name is there. If it’s not, it’s gonna be a good day.
So, I began to wonder how to marry this new obsession with my love for my planet. I’m turning off lights, driving a smaller car, trying to cultivate naturally and all of the other measures I can take to conserve and insure a safe future for my kids and grandkids and beyond, so why not consider measures for when I’m gone. I began to research ecologically safe methods for burial and actually found a company that makes this promise : "The method is based upon preserving the body in a biological form after death, while avoiding harmful embalming fluid. Then it can be returned to the ecological cycle in a dignified manner as a valuable contribution to the living earth." Well, that’s not really an alternative. After all, burials in America alone deposit 827,060 gallons of embalming fluids - formaldehyde, methanol and ethanol - into the soil each year. Well, I had thought that I wanted to cremated anyway. Spread my ashes during a saxophone solo at a jazz festival. Then I read that cremation dumps dioxins, hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide into the air. Uh oh…..there goes that plan. What’s a dead to person to do?
I read that during a railway expansion in Egypt in the 19th century, construction companies dug up so many mummies that they used them as fuel. Ok, that solves a multitude of problems from ecological concerns to overcrowding in the ground to fuel shortages. But, here’s the problem : the founder of the scientific method to do this, died of pneumonia after stuffing a chicken with snow to see if cold would preserve it. I didn’t.
It is estimated that 100 billion people have died since humans began. In the beginning, there was no formaldehyde, there were no wooden coffins, no artificial methods to keep bodies in tact. They would dig a hole, toss the guy in and natural decomposition would take place. Ashes to ashes…..dust to dust. It was at this point that I came to the realization that I was just spinning my wheels and giving myself a headache thinking about this stuff. It all became crystal clear. Stop thinking about death and get back to the task at hand. Enjoying life.

THAT’S HOW I FEEL. WHAT CAN I TELL YA’