Taking a few hours out of your week to demonstrate your love for the person who died and your support for survivors is not an inconvenience but a privilege. Funerals require the body to be embalmed. Depending on local regulations, funerals held shortly after the death may require no special means of preservation. Funerals and cremation are mutually exclusive. Embalmed bodies are often cremated.
Funerals are only for religious people.
Funerals are rote and meaningless. They needn t be. With forethought and planning, funerals can and should be personalized rituals reflecting the uniqueness of the bereaved family. Funerals should reflect what the dead person wanted. While pre-planning your funeral may help you reconcile yourself to your own mortality, funerals are primarily for the benefit of the living.