Philosophy of Loss, Friday, Period 2
"Welcome to our not-a-final," Didi said cheerfully as the class filed in. If she was a bit shaken by the nightmare that had frightened her awake, or by the general air of trouble covering the island that morning, she wasn't showing it. "We're having another discussion. We've talked -- or I've talked, anyhow --- a lot about how death is the one inevitable thing about being alive. It still is, but the way you die isn't inevitable. And today I want to talk about the concept of a 'good' death."
"To some people, that will mean dying at home in your sleep at the age of 95. Somebody else might say dying a hero is the way to go -- running into a burning building, or going down in a blaze of glory during a war. And of course, some people would never die at all, if they had their way. My question is, what makes you think of the way someone's life ends as a good death? If you got to choose, what would you pick?"
"There's a proverb in India. 'When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.' Is that something that you would agree with?"
She gestured to a student at random. "What do you think?"
"To some people, that will mean dying at home in your sleep at the age of 95. Somebody else might say dying a hero is the way to go -- running into a burning building, or going down in a blaze of glory during a war. And of course, some people would never die at all, if they had their way. My question is, what makes you think of the way someone's life ends as a good death? If you got to choose, what would you pick?"
"There's a proverb in India. 'When you were born, you cried and the world rejoiced. Live your life so that when you die, the world cries and you rejoice.' Is that something that you would agree with?"
She gestured to a student at random. "What do you think?"