I was listening to a podcast today and heard a line that I’ve been thinking about all day. The speaker was talking about how he hadn’t been around death in awhile. That caught my attention. There is something so formative about being around death.
It helps you to process life. Have you ever been to an open casket memorial service lately? Have you ever seen a loved one’s lifeless body at a funeral service. There is somethin so powerful about learning how to mourn it.
I grew up going to many, many funeral services where it has been open casket.
How about roadkill? I don’t see it much in So Cal, but when I was in Minnesota, it was one of the seasons.
We grew up going to the pig farm and picking out the one we wanted. They would be ushered into another part o the building. They would………..well, let’s just say, if you ever heard an animal die, you’d never forget it.
We are protected from death. They are just starting to show dead bodies on the news. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying you should go out and experience it, second hand or otherwise. It might even be uncomfortable to read. That line just really made me think thru this idea.
What do you think? Have you experienced it much? Is this uncomfortable for you?
identitySPECIALIST 
Very powerful writing Lem. I think that we hid from death too much in society in 21st century, especially in the western world. Then when death does come we do not know how to deal with it. Look at cultures that deal with death in a profound way – Judaism – they understand mourning is essential, and they give people time, and space for it. Today when someone dies, if I had a pound or dollar for every time someone said, ‘you just have to get on with it, keep going, keep busy.’ I would be an extremely wealth person. Whilst what they are saying may indeed be true, and may be helpful to those mourning, it also negates how the one in mourning is feeling, and it gives them the impression that mourning is wrong. When in fact mourning is natural, and essential for our well being, because it stops us repressing deeply held feelings.
I was talking with a friend and this post is a result of that conversation. We protect ourselves and our kids from the realities of life and when it happens, we don’t know how to deal.
I love your insight.
Thanks for your post. The challenge is to come up with a way to incorporate it into everyday life.