Are you affraid of talking about death?

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elderwanda
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27 Apr 2009, 11:29 pm

xalepax wrote:
How do You cope with death in the family?
Have you seen a dead body?
Are you affraid of death?
Do you think funerals is scary?




The only people I know who have died are my four grandparents. The first died when I was 11, and the last died when I was 37. I didn't feel much of anything when any of them died, except for some sadness about the whole nursing-home thing.

I've never seen a dead body, and never hope to see one. I'm pretty sure all of my grandparents were cremated..

I am afraid of death, because if I die, my kids won't have a mother. I'm not afraid of being dead, because I assume it's just "nothing".

I've never been to a funeral. My first two grandparents that died were too far away for me to go (and I wasn't close to them anyway). My other two grandparents died in the city where I live, but they both chose not to have funerals. I think they were both aspies, and they didn't seem to know anyone. I would NOT want to go to an open-casket funeral. I think that's revolting. If someone I love dies, I don't want to have an image of them "dead" in my mind.



sbcmetroguy
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28 Apr 2009, 9:33 am

xalepax wrote:
How do You cope with death in the family?
Have you seen a dead body?
Are you affraid of death?
Do you think funerals is scary?



I don't cope with death. I do not know how to, so I just kind of ignore it. I've only been to one funeral in my life and it was a friend's mother's funeral last year. I have lost family members and friends all my life but never went to their funerals and never really showed anything other than indifference at their passing.

I am not afraid of death, but I do hate knowing that it is final. I do not believe in an afterlife, so I don't worry about "hell" or anything like that, I just don't like thinking about what will become of my body upon death.

I have never seen a dead body and do not want to. I've seen them on TV and on the internet (we need better decency laws, I personally feel that they shouldn't be allowed to show crap like that) but never in real life. When I was a kid I used to play around in a neighborhood cemetary and I saw plenty of people being buried, but I never saw a body.



dtoxic
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28 Apr 2009, 8:27 pm

I cope with death before it happens. I heard a lot of songs and saw movies where people lament the loss of a loved one, saying they regret not having spent more time with them, or forgiving some hurtful thing, or saying this or that to them. So I approached it logically and tried to think if there was anyone whose death would make me feel those regrets. I didn't come up with much, so I figured I was OK with where I stood with everyone and how often we hang out. I periodically review my "potential regret" status, and rarely come up with much. If I haven't seen or talked to somebody in a while I'll visit or email them.
There is a core group of people in my life whose death would make me sad for a while, but not because of missed opportunities on my end, just theirs.
I have lost a few family members. They had all lived long enough that it was their prerogative to have lived as fully as they could, and as far as I know they did.
One friend/ex-roommate died young. I didn't feel too sad for him either; he was a risk-taker, knew the risks, and took them anyway.
I know death is everyone's fate and it's a matter of when. So I greet death with a shrug mostly. I have yet to experience deep grief. I've gotten more upset over the loss of certain objects I was attached to than the people I've lost. I think it's because I believe everyone is individually responsible for living their own life to the fullest, and it's seldom something I can help them with, so it's on them if they underachieved or misprioritized their time.
I've seen several bodies and watched my grandmother pass on from her deathbed. Didn't affect me much. I relate to the person who spoke of being surrounded by weeping relatives while they calmly called the funeral home.
I'm not afraid of death. I just want to make sure I live my life to the fullest, and I don't take my time here for granted. On the other hand I have at times been depressed and suicidal, but I reasoned that since there was a chance things could improve, I might as well avoid a permanent solution. Death is coming soon enough, no reason to hasten it if any more interesting experiences can still be wrung out of this odd existence.
Funerals don't scare me. They're stiff, somber and annoying, especially for me as an atheist when I have to listen to all the religious crap that permeates the ceremony. I also relate to whoever doesn't like being hugged or "consoled" at wakes or funerals.