Death is something that people must deal with every day in our world, and there are several aspects of death that sometimes the living do not consider. For example, how does one celebrate or remember passed loved ones? What happens to you when you die? How would you like to be remembered? There are multiple ways to answer these questions, and examining differing points of view can be enlightening.
“Mommy, when will I die?” I can still hear my 4-year old’s little voice asking me this question from the backseat as I am driving. How do I answer her? Do I tell her the truth? Do I lie to her? How do I explain death to a 4-year-old? For her, this question was out of curiosity not fear. For me, this was the most gut wrenching question I had ever been asked. Holding back tears, I gave her the best answer that I knew at the time. “Everyone dies sweetie. Nobody knows exactly when they are going to die. Sometimes it just happens when you least expect it. We all hope to be here for a really long time. And there will always be
Death is something that many people fear and many people face. Most people do not know exactly when they are going to die, but being given a sort of idea of that can change the way someone thinks and acts drastically. Death is in escapable. Everyone must die eventually, some young, like my friend in fifth grade who passed from being in an ATV accident, and others old, such as my 15 year old cat who recently passed.
There is huge difference between Death and Dying. Death is the end of life, while dying is the process in which you death, also including the choices and actions involved in that process. In “On the Fear of Death,” by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross she describes the different aspects of dying, the final days of individuals who are terminally ill, the grieving process, and how children are treated during the time of death. The dissimilitude in “old-fashioned” death and “modern” final days are presented. Sometimes one has to consider the circumstances surrounding the end of life.
Death is a sensitive topic that most don’t enjoy bringing up. And I understand why. But sometimes it’s best to deal with the topic of death head on. As Randy Pausch said in The Last Lecture, “...when there’s an elephant in the room introduce it”. So here is the elephant: everyone alive now will die one way or another. It’s the unfortunate truth that human life is fragile and one can die as quickly as they were born. However, while death may make you feel somber, just because you will die one day doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the time that you have left. Abraham Lincoln once said, “In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years,” and this quote is very true. As the quote implies, although it is uncertain
How can one possibly prepare for the inevitability of death an When it comes to the topic of death, most people avoid discussing it and pretend that life will continue forever. They refrain from They refrain from planning for it or realizing that it will happen at one point or another. Time is a constraint. People tell themselves that they will achieve something in a certain amount of time which isn’t true because time will truly limit them. Most people do not achieve their dreams because they do not account for death. Instead of living in the moment, they just carefully continue their plans. There is always tension between planning for the future and just living in the pure moment. No one can know when they will cease to exist and many
“Death is a universal experience. No matter what our culture, our religion, our race, or our country of origin, we will all die. How we approach death, how we think about suffering and grief, and what we believe happens after we die vary based on our culture, religion, and spiritual beliefs. Spiritual beliefs ground our thinking about end-of-life concepts.” -Susan Thrane, MSN, RN, OCN
Death anxiety is a multifaceted nervousness that can include fear of the process of dying, the death in itself, and what happens after death (Zilberfein and Hurwitz, 2004). Yalom (2002) writes that the fear of death haunts each individual throughout life and that many people build denial-based defense mechanisms in order to cope with an ever-present awareness of death. The process of dying is both known and unknown, and nowhere is death anxiety more apparent than in patients suffering from terminal illness. According to Zilberfein and Hurwitz (2004), fear in patients suffering from fatal diseases can cause: (1) dependency, (2) increased chronic pain, (3) a loss of sense of control, and (4) significant attention paid to the question of what “lies ahead”. Along similar lines, Adelbratt and Strang (2000) conducted a study exploring how patients and their next-of-kin experience death anxiety. They found that thoughts central to this nervousness include fear related to the loss of autonomy and unknown
Death is inevitable for everyone. We all grow at different rates and grow up to look and feel different. In 2015, the average age of death was 80 years old. This makes a person think on what she should do before there life ends. Death is a surprise, and we never know when the last day is for anyone. The biggest question that comes to arise is what would you do if you knew the next day was your last? If I knew the next day was my last day to live, I would sky dive in a squirrel suit and drag race in a Hennessey Venom GT.
The version of the story that I connected with most, was the book. I feel like Mitch wrote it in a way where Morrie could connect with me through words. There are so many more detailed things that were explained in the book. I think the book was a bit more impactful after I watched the first interview, because I could visualize Morrie, and hear his voice. It was interesting to hear about Morrie’s past, in detail, and read about how he got to where he is today. Tuesdays With Morrie was a big eye-opener for me in a way that I don’t feel another book has done. Morrie was a very inspirational person through his constant positive attitude, and his aphorisms.
There isnt a way to sugarcoat the fact that you will one day become nothing but a body 6 feet below in the ground. You see everyday on the news how somebody has been killed and you feel sympathy for them, but have you ever thought that in the future someone will be feeling the same sympathy for you. We didn't grow up being taught that death was something to welcome with open arms. In all actuality we are avoiding something that is bound to happen whether we want it or not. The famous quote “everything good must come to an end” is a good way to connect the good “ your life” with the end “death” to further your understanding of how short life really is. Know that nothing lasts forever and every day that you are blessed with will never come again. Acknowledging the fact and taking it one step at a time will lessen the amount of worries you have when facing the death that is creeping upon us.Its not the simplest process, if anything its a very emotional rollercoaster. Think about everything and act upon it because most of us want to be remembered by the positive contributions we did while we were walking the Earth. The more enlightened I became on my religious faith, the more courage I gained. I know without a doubt in my mind that there is a much more greater , everlasting life ahead of me. As a Christian, I know that my loving Father in Heaven awaits me. I know that my great grandmother, grandfather and my precious unborn sibling are all there, which
It seems that when you are young you don't think much about death, at least not for me. In fact, I was too busy living to even realize that I would eventually die and when I would think about it I assumed that it would be of old age and definitely not how I actually died instead. I, Olive Lorain Barkley, was and technically still am 17 years old when death came for me. The date was August 14th 2010 (a relatively good year besides the dying part); Me and my mom were driving home from a family reunion and got in a car crash; I later found out that the girl was on texting and driving. All three of us got rushed to the hospital where the girl suffered a concussion, my mom with amazingly minor injuries, and I passed away due to blood loss. Just
In other words, if you found out that you’re going to die in the next few days, you would live differently. In the movie GATTACA, after Vincent’s parents hearing what age and why Vincent would die, had an effect of how they were to raise him. Whenever Vincent fell or ran, his parents were always right there to make sure he was ok mostly because they KNEW he had heart disease and that he is going to die soon. If the parents had no clue they would not be that protective of him. I guess it is a good thing to know how you’re going to die if you can, you can try to prevent it. But in my opinion I wouldn’t want to know how my child would die and when because that will all be what I will think throughout my
Writing my own obituary made me feel really uncomfortable, because thinking about my own death just really puts me in a state of depression. It makes me think death is simply the end. I am not the least bit 'afraid' of it, but I do not desire it. Not out of fear of death, but out of love of life. The only bad thing about death is no longer being alive. I don't want to ever leave my family. Not because I will miss them, I, won't I'll be dead, but because they will be sad and will miss me because I’m no longer on this Earth. I don't know how anybody could face the death of a loved one without some sadness and grief. No matter what we believe about death, we will never see that person again, no matter how long we live. We will miss them and grieve their loss. Death does not make me anxious in a hypothetical sense, but of course, since I do not want to die, risks to my life make me feel uncomfortable. I love the idea of being able to be with my friends and family to enjoy life. I wouldn’t want to think about my death because of the fact, I wouldn’t know if I’m going to heaven or hell; although I wouldn’t know. The thought of being closed up in a casket puts some type of fear in my heart, because no one is there with
In most people 's lives, they will experience a moment of knowing death is near.