After I Die

I want to be cremated, the ashes taken to a foundry, mixed with molten steel, and have that steel made into a sword.

Kinda weird, hunh?

I came up with this idea after my friend Lisa Jacobs died. She was an artist that worked with iron and steel; she took red hot metal and formed it to her will with an anvil and hammer. She made some very cool stuff. Her death was long and tragic. After it I was thinking about the shell left behind.

Almost every religion, every society, has a thing they do with the body. Whether it's burial, burning, leaving it out for vultures, something is done with it. So what to do with a body? People keep urns of ashes of loved ones. They sit on mantles in urns or boxes. Some throw the ashes into the ocean, or sprinkle a bit at Disneyland without Disney's knowledge... Or you can be buried in the ground. Bodies don't really decay like they used to. A grave has a plastic lining and cement top to keep out the elements, the coffins are not made of wood any more. So the body is not recycled into the environment, it just lays preserved...

What would be wrong with being turned into a weapon? Or two or three depending on how many kids I have when I die? It's possible to make a sword that is beautiful. To be placed on a wall or in the corner of a room. It doesn't need to be handled reverently, it's a sword. Albeit, infused with the carbon that once made up me... Carbon makes steel stronger.

And when the zombies come, I can help keep my kids alive. Swords don't run out of ammunition...