HW 48

The two family members I decided to interview are my grandfather and my aunt. This is a touchy subject knowing that my grandfather has been sick but I think that would make it even a better interview. The first question I asked both of them was Would you rather be buried or cremated? I asked this question because I know those are the two choices that most americans think of. My aunt said buried right away like there was no question. She said this because she doesn't want to be burned. "When your burned in my opinion its not really you, just ashes. Your not one, rather millions of little pieces of dust." I can agree with that but I feel like that is a very easy typical response. The fact that it was such an easy response means that she probably doesn't know that much about the topic. When I asked my grandfather he said the opposite. He said that he rather be cremated because thats what most of our relatives have done. This is not only true on his side of the family but on my dads side as well. "Being cremated bring you two places, your physical body is turned to ash and is put in a urn, while your spirit rises in to the sky. But who knows where it goes after that." I know that this has been well thought about especially with somebody nearing death but again its very typical american that he chose that, and thats completely fine. But if he learned what were going to learn would he think the same? I think that its interesting that my aunt and my grandfather had different opinions because they are complete opposites. In gender, age, spiritual beliefs (My grandfather being religious), where they live, and how they were raised. Personally I don't know enough about the topic to compare these beliefs to my own. But I can say that millions of Americans are definitely thinking the same way. Another question I asked was what are you most scared about when you die. Surprisingly the answers were very similar. Both of them basically said they are scared that they wont be there for their family and loved ones, and they are scared for the world. "What will the world be like without me in it?"That is a very interesting question to ask yourself because there isn't an answer. You can never know and thats the scary part. I think that isn't just a dominant question in the U.S. but one that spreads to almost if not every person on earth.