They're a neat mix of history, nature, and art. They're often isolated, beautiful, and quiet. Important people get monuments in public squares; all but the most poor throughout US history get a small plot and a little headstone. It's fun to think about people who otherwise have been completely forgotten: the eras they lived in, the family members they're buried with, the countries where they came from, their accomplishments in life, and sometimes the sacrifices they made for me. They're no dumber than any other monument you see to anyone anywhere else, except these are the monuments for the 99%, figuratively speaking.
Visiting a cemetery also reminds me that I'm mortal and one day my fate will be the same.
There's an extremely fair case to be made against cemeteries from environmental and/or space concerns, and you can accomplish a lot of the above goals in other ways. However, the dismissal of a very human desire to remember and/or be remembered deserved a response.
Yeah the aesthetic argument is one I can't really argue against. I also like cemeteries for aesthetic reasons, but there's no reason why we couldn't preserve a forest and then plant monuments there, followed by cremation.
Are physical monuments getting more or less popular? I mean, my whole history and life is basically on Facebook, which acts as a more thorough monument than any limited gravestone ever could. Remembering people through electronics seems like a complete eco-friendly replacement for altars and other space consuming habits.
They're a neat mix of history, nature, and art. They're often isolated, beautiful, and quiet. Important people get monuments in public squares; all but the most poor throughout US history get a small plot and a little headstone. It's fun to think about people who otherwise have been completely forgotten: the eras they lived in, the family members they're buried with, the countries where they came from, their accomplishments in life, and sometimes the sacrifices they made for me. They're no dumber than any other monument you see to anyone anywhere else, except these are the monuments for the 99%, figuratively speaking.
Visiting a cemetery also reminds me that I'm mortal and one day my fate will be the same.
There's an extremely fair case to be made against cemeteries from environmental and/or space concerns, and you can accomplish a lot of the above goals in other ways. However, the dismissal of a very human desire to remember and/or be remembered deserved a response.