So over Memorial Day Weekend, my dad has a War Veterans Presentation, and we go, as a family. It is at the cemetery where my Mom is buried, an uncle, and some distant relatives. We 'visit' them, and then go to another cemetery nearby where my wife's family is buried, and 'visit' there. And the question that comes up, each time, is that the War Veterans presentation is done by those that were in the earlier wars, and they are usually in their 70s or higher. At some point, they will pass away, and who will take over? There is no one under 60 there, except for our family. But that brings up another thought - that we visit our parents, our grandparents, etc... but at what generation do people stop going to cemeteries? Will our kids go their great grandparents? to their grandparents? We go to the headstones, and put stones on them, say a prayer, and let them know we are thinking about them, but at some point - generations will be far gone, there are plenty of headstones there with no stones, and just weeds.... And now I read stories online that nowadays, cremation is something that has gathered steam. So what do you all do, in terms if visitations, if any, and what are your plans, if any?
When my dad passed we scattered his ashes at a lake he used to go to a lot for fishing. I haven't gone to visit that location but it is very far. But when I think about it, my grandfather was buried in a cemetery in the suburb we lived in, and my grandmother hasn't really gone to visit him much either anymore? And in both of our cases, it obviously isn't because we've stopped thinking about them, they don't leave our minds much ever. As a result I don't think there's much of a difference between having a headstone vs going through cremation outside of cost and just general preference. I think if you wanna visit you'll visit, if you prioritize other things you'll prioritize those things and still honor those people in your way. It is worth thinking about though as we are surrounded by SO much death especially with current policies and the like, and we also have so little money compared to generations before ours, attention spans are shorter, etc. All of these are scatterbrained thoughts but I do think it's interesting to think about