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Talking about Dying - memoirs and essays (Paperback)
Loot Price: R328
Discovery Miles 3 280
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Talking about Dying - memoirs and essays (Paperback)
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Loot Price R328
Discovery Miles 3 280
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
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Everyone knows that the death rate on earth is 100 percent. If one
were to concentrate obsessively on that fact, it could become an
obstacle to living. But fleeing from all talk about death can also
be unhealthy. Death is omnipresent in today's media. But the
portrayal of death in the movies, television and video games can be
a way of distancing oneself from the reality of one's own death.
This book provides language for personally grappling with issues
that eventually concern every individual. The author brings an
historical perspective to practices that have undergone a change in
public perception. Euthanasia and suicide were until recently
judged to be sickness or sin. These practices are now sometimes
thought to be acceptable but language is needed for a better
discussion of them. The book is particularly concerned with
education, not just courses in school but the teachable moments in
the lives of both children and adults. A child's encounter with the
death of a family member or even the death of a pet are important
moments for integrating into one's life a healthy attitude to
death. The idea that there are stages of dying was made popular by
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. This book critically examines what truth
there may be to the idea and its practical relevance. In a sense,
everyone is dying from the moment of birth. A diagosis that one has
a few weeks or months to live simply makes one aware of the
process. Dr. Johnson's famous comment that "getting hanged in a
fortnight wonderfully concerntrates the mind" applies more broadly
to every reminder of one's mortality. Every adult eventually has
the experience of mourning a loved one. In most societies there is
a careful ritual for mourning. This book discusses the absence of
support for mourning in many people's lives. In recent years public
tragedies bring forth makeshift memorials. That can be a help but
it is not a substitute for expressions of personal grief which are
best helped by the support of a few friends and family members. The
last two chapters of this book concern the place of religion in
relation to dying. Death functions as a helpful point of reference
for an ecumenical conversation among the major religions. The
beliefs of Christianity are examined to help Christians find
support in their religion when they are dying. The many
philosophical issues discussed in this book are dramatized in the
two memoirs that begin the book. Memoir is a strange literary genre
which assumes a reader's interest in the private details of an
individual's life. The popular appeal of memoirs confirms the
meaning of "human uniqueness" that the author has frequently
written about. A person's uniqueness is not based on having nothing
in common with others; instead, human uniqueness is based on
openness to all others. Sherwin Nuland begins his great book, "How
We Die," by saying that "the uniqueness of each of us extends even
to the way we die." Yet he can write a helpful book on his
experiences with the dying because a person's unique death can
teach every other unique person about how to die. The first memoir
in "Talking About Dying" describes in detail the author's caring
for his wife as she suffered from dementia during the last four
years of her life. There are millions of people confronted with
this problem; they often feel alone. The reader might learn from
the author's attempt to cope with dementia, including mistakes that
he made. The second memoir is a reflection by the author on his own
experience of dealing with colon cancer. Dying takes on a vivid
reality when one comes up against a disease that can soon end one's
life. Whatever one had previously thought about dying is suddenly
challenged when the death is one's own. In both memoirs the author
recounts the kindnesses of friends and the skill and dedication of
medical professionals. Ultimately we die alone but the support of
others is invaluable in every moment up to the very la
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