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death, dying, and random thoughts.
Nov. 17th, 2005 02:23 pmMy grandfather is in a non-responsive state, and someone suggested I try some writing to un-depress myself. So, just to share the love, here's my random thoughts about death, dying, and why we act the way we do. (it worked, by the way. ♥s to the man who had me do this.)
why we mourn death:
*because we're selfish creatures who only care about our loss.
*because we don't want to think about life without that person.
*we can't stand the thought of loss. loss and losing someone we love is what dominates our culture. part of this is cultural - in other countries, they celebrate the life of the person, not mourn their death.
*it's all "we" centered. it doesn't occur to us to think of the one dying/who has died - how much pain they were in. how much they were forgetting. how much they didn't understand. anything like that. it just doesn't come to us that maybe it was their time. that they are better off in death.
why other cultures don't mourn:
*they have a better outlook on life and death - it's about the person's accomplishments, not what they're losing.
*death is/was a daily part of life for them. they never got so attached that they couldn't say goodbye.
*other cultures don't seem to have this "me me me" attitude that we here in america have. they focus on the time they had, and don't want to prolong the person's pain/suffering any longer.
*life is more valued in other places. every hour is precious, and they treat it like that. they usually don't have regrets as to "not spending enough time with them" or other junk like that.
why we mourn death:
*because we're selfish creatures who only care about our loss.
*because we don't want to think about life without that person.
*we can't stand the thought of loss. loss and losing someone we love is what dominates our culture. part of this is cultural - in other countries, they celebrate the life of the person, not mourn their death.
*it's all "we" centered. it doesn't occur to us to think of the one dying/who has died - how much pain they were in. how much they were forgetting. how much they didn't understand. anything like that. it just doesn't come to us that maybe it was their time. that they are better off in death.
why other cultures don't mourn:
*they have a better outlook on life and death - it's about the person's accomplishments, not what they're losing.
*death is/was a daily part of life for them. they never got so attached that they couldn't say goodbye.
*other cultures don't seem to have this "me me me" attitude that we here in america have. they focus on the time they had, and don't want to prolong the person's pain/suffering any longer.
*life is more valued in other places. every hour is precious, and they treat it like that. they usually don't have regrets as to "not spending enough time with them" or other junk like that.
