Travel to space.
Rebuild Atlantis.
Land on the Moon.
Buy a diamond ring.
Who knew that after I die, I could accomplish all these things -- and more! I just finished reading a fabulously interesting article from Interesting Thing of the Day. Apparently, the author has figured out that with our ashes, we are able to do all these things: travel to space, rebuild Atlantis, and land on the moon. The only thing misleading about my quote was that we don't actually buy the diamond ring after we die -- we could actually become the diamond ring.
That's right. No more "you are dust, and to dust you shall return". No sirree. There is a company that will take your ashes and compress them into an artificial diamond ring. There's also a company that will take a portion of your ashes into space, or if you prefer, you could have your ashes sent to the moon. Another interesting option is to pay this other company to put your ashes in concrete and use it as a building block of an artificial reef that is being built off the coast of Miami -- yes, the reef is modeled after Atlantis. You could, essentially, become the cornerstone of the city under the sea. Hahaha.
I am reminded of the ancient kings of Vietnam (not to mention the Pharaohs of Egypt, the Emperors of China, etc.) who built their mausoleums in preparation for their deaths. It is quite extraordinary. The elaborate architectures, the blueprints, the designs, the labor that went into building these edifices and facilities that will house them in their deaths. Though our methods differ from theirs, our desire, our need to prepare for death in our own way very similary reflects those of the ancient kings and pharaohs. I suppose it is that human need to feel like we can manage every little thing, that we do have control over all things even death, no matter how futile.
1 comment:
Isn't it interesting, too, how far people will go to have greatness in death? To plan something extraordinary for their remains? I used to have a snippet from the newspaper on the front of the fridge about a man who won the lottery and the first thing he bought was his ideal tombstone. How very peculiar.
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