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Citizen encourages Greenbrier residents to get educated about crematorium




LTE

LTE

I need to start this letter by saying that I have a vested interested in Greenbrier. I was raised here, I am raising my children here, and yes…I live here.

Also, I have a graduate degree, so I am educated (a little at least). And I feel I have a decent amount of common sense, too.

When I heard that a crematorium was looking at coming to Greenbrier, my reaction was “are you kidding me?” Out of all the places to set up such a place, why would anyone pick the center of a small town? Right? 

Then I heard about the petitions going around and the social media rants. I read the Facebook posts and realized I was ashamed of how the citizens of Greenbrier have changed from the ones I grew up around. It seems that the good people of the past (ones that have passed away) have passed the city off to a trashy, classless group with only one focus…themselves.

Because of everyone’s negative views on crematoriums, I did research.  I did research on everything relating to crematoriums and cremations. I found out everything, and I mean everything, there was to know about it. I talked to crematorium owners in Tennessee, manufacturers of the units in Florida and other cities (near Greenbrier) that have these businesses. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about the cremation process. Things like state requirements, the size and weight of the units, emissions of pollutants, and so much more that I couldn’t even begin to write it.

The only experience I had previously had with cremation was when my parent passed away. Their wishes were to be cremated. I honored those wishes. When I went to the funeral home (yes, funeral home) to pick up their remains, I was very surprised at the fact that this funeral home had its own crematorium. I had no clue that it did. How would I? I didn’t see “stacks of dead bodies waiting to be burned” (Facebook post), I didn’t “smell dead bodies” (Facebook post), and I definitely didn’t see any “ashes floating in the air” (Facebook post) before I walked in the door. In fact, how I found out it had its own crematory is that I asked. And might I just add that it was nicer than any funeral home that I have ever visited before.

For all the Facebook posts authors that say, “there will be stacks of dead bodies in the back of the building” or compare the process to a “bonfire and bring smores,” you absolutely disgust me. You should be ashamed of yourselves. These individuals that you are referring to was someone’s daughter, son, mom, dad, uncle, aunt, and so on. Maybe they were doctors that healed people, teachers that guided children, pastors that preached about forgiveness and love, maybe a decorated military hero, or maybe none of these; but I can guarantee you they were special to someone.  Please take a moment to think before you speak and get educated on the subject first, so you can have a conversation that would contribute to the discussion instead of disrespecting the dead and hurting people that you don’t know.

You may be asking, ‘do I support a crematorium in the middle of town?’ Honestly, no I don’t. But I also don’t support people’s decisions to contribute to society in a negative way either. While I respect everyone’s view on this business, I don’t respect people with a lack of empathy or voicing their uninformed opinion regarding the dead or this business and then posting it on social media.

Come on Greenbrier, we are better than this. We wave when we pass someone we know, we help neighbors when they need it, we support our schools and our children, and we have more class then what is currently being displayed.

So, to all the citizens I end with this…Knowledge is power and you have to be smarter than what you’re dealing with. Get educated about what you are opposing. Get educated on your local government and how it functions. Get educated so people that have a little common sense and/or a little education don’t see you for the ignorant people that you are. Be Greenbrier proud, be the Greenbrier that I know we are.

Regards,

Greenbrier Citizen

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