[frantique]

Tue Apr 3, 2007 10:32AM EDT
BERLIN (Reuters) - A German woman's plan to turn her dead father's ashes into a diamond was thwarted Tuesday by her grandmother.

A district court in Wiesbaden ruled the 19-year-old could not take the cremated remains to Switzerland where a company creates synthetic diamonds from ashes.

"The daughter of the deceased could not provide sufficient proof that it was his final wish to be pressed into a diamond," the court in western Germany said, ruling in favor of his 86-year-old mother.

The court said the daughter's views on the care of the remains took precedence over the wishes of the dead man's mother but ruled that any decision had to be in accordance with the expressed wishes of the deceased.

The ashes are placed in a press under intense pressure and heat, replicating the forces that create a natural diamond, over a period of several months. Synthetic diamonds have been manufactured from carbon since the mid-1950s

So, what do you think? Wearing a loved one around your neck or on your finger?

[Advertisements]

People scare me...

[Facedown98]

People scare me...

[Johanna]

I think the deeper issue here is since when it is it okay to disrespect your grandmother and do something she specifically isn't comfortable with?? I mean, both of my grandmas are gone now, but I can't imagine talking back to them, much less disregarding the feelings they would have concerning their child's remains! Just because you have the legal right to do something doesn't mean it's the right thing to do, and if your elderly grandma is mad at you, that is a clue that you are messing up. And taking your grandmother to court, especially in a time of bereavement? Someone slap that silly child.

When my second husband died his oldest son, his brother and I put his ashes in the creek he and his Grandpap used to fish in. I'd be lying if I didn't feel funny knowing they were in the trunk on the drive to Pennsylvania. I can not imagine wearing a jewel created from the physical remains of a loved one. It's beyond tasteless. I'm older now, so I go to more funerals. There is something comforting about going to the church, hugging the family, going to the cemetery, closing the circle properly. Constructing a synthetic diamond may be possible, but is it proper?

I'm glad the court ruled for the grandmother.
Johanna

[frantique]

I was a little amazed that the court ruled that the wishes of the daughter took precedence over the wishes of the mother!

It seems really tacky to me .. turning the remains of a human being into something useful or rather useless and showy! There are so many things we can keep that belonged to our loved ones that have meaning and generate closeness. Perhaps she wasn't intending to have the diamond set and perhaps it was her grief at not wanting to let go that led her to fight her grandmother.

The really sad thing is that all the publicity will probably generate a whole lot of people doing it!

[dsenette]

i don't see anything wrong with the idea of turning someone's ashes into a diamond...i think it's pretty nifty actually...in this instance i doubt they were going to use the entire amount of ashes to make said diamond...

i dunno...i guess i've just got different views on death...i don't really feel that what happens to the body after you die is terribly relevant...

perhaps the daughter was planning on having the diamond set for a wedding ring in the future? so that her father could be at her wedding and in her married life? maybe she needed some more "bling for her grill"?...i don't know why (well i know the instincts and genetic programming behind it) we as people are so fixated on a lifeless embodiment of what was once a loved one...isn't the memory and the love you feel for the person more important?

[ScHwErV]

Thats deep monkey, to the point of being scary.

It's also scary that I agree with ya.

Moved to Serious Discussion.

[warriorscot]

I don't see anything wrong with it, burial traditions can be pretty screwy, i think you get something like 3 or 4 high quality near flawless diamonds if its done properly, turning your dead loved one into one of natures greatest masterpieces is to me a pretty good way to do it. I don't go for cremation anyway but if i was i would rather be a diamond wherever i am than sitting in some earn or get scattered in a river or a park or whatever. You can kinda see the daughters logic a diamond lasts forever a stone in some field last a few hundred years or an earn that will last less or scattering them which lasts a minute and some people really hate the idea of.

I quite fancy when i go in the very distant future who ever is taking care of the left overs to drill a hole stick me in it and plant a really nice apple tree (or any nice tree) on top. Its either that or diamonds then getting launched into space(which to me is going out in the most stylish of fashions). When you are gone you are gone what does it matter what you do with what's left its not like you're going to be around to complain are you.

Besides if i was 89 i wouldn't be taking on the screwy grand daughter, she will probably have her made into a diamond along with the father when she kicks the proverbial bucket.

Edited by warriorscot, 04 April 2007 - 04:16 PM.

[MoNsTeReNeRgY22]

Thats just weird...

[**Brian**]

I would not turn my relatives into jewlery or any other objects - I love my family, and I told my dad when my grandmother died that I wanted to remember her how she was in the living, rather then to see her in death. I guess I elected that option because my grammy had cancer, and I guess I just wanted to remember her the way she was, rather then to see her laying there - guess that sounds funny, but thats the way that I felt at that time.

Seeing your relatives in a coffin is finite - I have seen my uncle in his coffin, but it didn't bother me, but turning family into jewelery? NO SIR - Not in my lifetime

Brian

[h_mike]

It seems weird, but think about it. You would always have your fallen love one with you, if you have the diamond on you at all times, but I don't think I would turn a loved one into a piece of jewelry.

Edited by hayabusa_mike, 24 April 2007 - 07:14 PM.

[Kat]

No way I could have had my brother turned into a piece of jewelry. I don't fault anyone who DOES wish to do so, though. It's an intensely personal choice, and not for me to judge.

[dsenette]

i'd much rather be turned into something usefull...such as a coffee table...or a hat rack

[ChrisWright]

I can kinda see why some people might actually want to do this... Especially inspired by what was said before about having ones parents at their funeral, and as part of their marriage... That has some very deep sentiment to it


I think personally, I wouldn't want something like that though. I think I would opt for something else.. Maybe the choice of a biodegradable cardboard box will a tree on top- theres something 'ongoing' about a tree growing from you...


More on topic, I think that the ruling was fairly just... I mean, its a very big decision, and to make the choice for someone who has passed away when they haven't fully expressed a choice is such a tough problem to solve.

[sarahw]

Personally, I wouldn't like to be cremated and turned into a diamond. Why human ashes, why not just turn the remains of last nights BBQ into a good part of Sierra Leone. Personally I would like to be buried in a mausoleum with diamonds and lots of gold objects, booby trapped Indiana Jones style, or at least make the British museum work for said riches.

[james_8970]

ignore this post...