Are We Too Comfortable?

    A couple of people have said how some topics on my blog are a little 'out there' or 'uncomfortable' in a way.  That I basically talk about sensitive things which makes them a little uncomfortable.

    But is this a bad thing?  Perhaps it is about time some things were said as we have gotten too comfortable.

    Many avoid certain topics with regards to the funeral industry.  Generally it is considered inappropriate to discuss certain things in public or in specific social settings.  This is something I find to be untrue, that in the vast majority of cases people wish to talk about these things.  However, some topics and the details are still left out.  Avoided and distanced.  People start to get uncomfortable when faced with the details.

    To discuss how the mouth is sutured or eye caps placed would make most uncomfortable.  I find while many will be very keen to discuss the funeral industry in general very few will be comfortable with the details.  The details are then avoided by so many.

    While this lack of discussion is easy it also has negative consequences.  Take for example things that go on in the mortuary.  Many find the details of mortuary work disturbing and unsettling.  Things like how the mouth is sutured shut, eye caps put in place, embalming done and so on.  These sort of specific and detailed topics will make most rather uncomfortable quickly.

    As a result we do not discuss details of mortuary work.  Even this blog is yet to have a detailed post on how things are done.  We avoid these discussions and deem them as inappropriate and unsettling.  Unfortunately in doing so we label the mortuary work as a bad thing.  We see it as too inappropriate and uncomfortable to discuss.

    Which in turn means the mortuary work becomes a bad thing.  We see it as inappropriate so it becomes inappropriate.  The mortuary work is separated mentally and removed physically as it is too unsettling to be in proximity to us.  The mortuary work becomes a dirty and unsettling thing.  So unsettlingly bad that to simply talk about it is inappropriately discomforting.

    Because it is avoided for these reasons it becomes a bad thing.  But because it becomes a bad thing we assume the worst.  Over the year several people have asked about mistreatment of bodies.  Highly worried about being inappropriately treated after death.  Many misunderstand things about the mortuary, having incorrect ideas of it and how it works.  For example many are worried of necrophilia and would see someone plugging orifices as inappropriate.  Yet I have never heard even a rumour of a necrophilic act in Australia.  And things like plugging orifice's are standard procedure with legitimate reasons.

    Many worry about being mistreated in the mortuary, a worry that is completely unfounded but quite reasonable.  Some things are just misunderstood and seen as inappropriate in a mortuary too dirty to even discuss.

    But is this really how we want to see our mortuary?  Is this how we want to be labeled after we or others die?  As too dirty and inappropriate to even talk about.  Discussing these things might not be comfortable, it might even be rather difficult.  But perhaps it should be done anyway.  Perhaps we should be more informed as to what happens and be able to talk about it without labeling it so negatively.

    It might not be comfortable to discuss, but it is something we should discuss anyway.  We are often too comfortable with this topic.  Our lack of discussion is what should disturb us, as there is a disturbing lack of information on these things out there.

An~~