What a well written article. But from personal experience, it's missing something. My dad's funeral service was held in the crematorium. Afterwards they invited the closest family members to watch. Didn't warn us about what we were about to witness. First, instead of the "nice" coffin with flowers on top, he was put into a cheap-looking, thin plywood crate filled with thin, twisted strips of paper. It looked like the paper equivalent of styrofoam peanuts. The gurney was carelessly lying crooked against a wall as if it had just rolled over and bumped to a stop. Then they rolled it into the furnace in workmanlike manner and closed the room's blinds to block our view.

We all swore off cremation after that. Please leave after the service. Don't watch your loved one's cremation, it'll be a horrible last memory that taints everything that came before.

Second, the cremains are in a sealed plastic bag, inside a cardboard box. After you scatter the ashes, what do you do with the box, the bag, and the last ashes in the bag? Throw them in your household garbage? (Illegal, btw) It was my reminder that not everything has a "nice" interface.