Yesterday’s post talked about the simplicity of deciding your body’s fate after death, with only three real options: burial, cremation, and body donation.
But as our vast and seemingly unlimited world is wont to do, even body donation has its options. Ever seen the BODIES exhibit, where human bodies are on display, allowing us to see every muscle, bone, organ (and more!) in various poses and in various states? It’s fascinating. What they’ve done to the body to get it like that is called plastination. Don’t say you never learned anything on this blog.
Here’s a story about a woman (an anatomy professor) from New Jersey who plans to donate her body for plastination to the Institute for Plastination located in Heidleberg, Germany. From that article:
“I want my body to have a purpose. This is it. This is what I have to do,” she said. And with a sense of joyful enthusiasm, the anatomy professor added, “I’m going to teach anatomy forever!”
I’ll call this Exhibit A in the lesson of not just doing what’s always been done, but seeing what options are out there, what calls you, and what could you do that in making the decision now, brings you “joyful enthusiasm”?