Gunnar Jauch wrote:

> another peculiar bit of Americana. It depicts one more time the
> bizarre attitude many Americans seem to have towards death.

I think that when you get down to the basics what you will see in the
modern American culture in regards to death is the same thing that you
will see in American culture in general--individuality.

There are many ways American handle treating of bodies.  We probably
lead the world in donation of organs.  We donate bodies to science and
medical schools.  Headstones for those who are buried are more and
more individualized.  Some bodies are frozen and, at the other
extreme, many more cremations are happening.  I thing that one reason
why is because the ashes can be scattered in ways that are meaningful
to the deceased or the bereaved.

A number of years ago a good hometown friend of my wife's drove across
country from San Francisco back to his hometown with the ashes of his
dead lover.  He left ashes behind at special places.  He liked the
peaceful view from my house and scattered some ashes along my small
stretch of river bank.  Not only did this help him with his thoughts--
connecting people that were important to him--but it has made us think
of our place as being special.

Regards,
    Rick Parker


P.S. - Did you notice that LifeGem had a section of their website in
Japanese too?