Psych year 3, log 3
Who: Blacky, students, lurkers
What: DOUBLE BLACKY LOG ALL THE WAY... but this one is a class.
When: October 11, 6pm
Warnings: PROBABLY LOADS OF ANGST. What is wrong with you children.
Ideally, she would have given this lesson about a month ago. But Blacky had a terrible habit of putting things off for long periods of time. Particularly things she didn't want to deal with but couldn't officially say that she wouldn't. Things in the curriculum, for instance.
Oh well. Better now than randomly having it at all the way after year-end exams. That would just be stupid.
"Good evening, class. Today we'll be taking a look at what's known as the Five Stages of Dying."
She wrote the topic on the board and underlined it.
"Some of you may have heard of it. The theory is that when someone realizes that they only have a short time to live, they go through a series of five different mindsets before their death. Now, not everybody goes through all of them, and the time spent in each stage may vary, but for the most part the stages seem to be commonly expressed by people on their death bed."
Now came the bullet points!
"First we have denial: Suppose the doctor tells you that you have a deadly disease and will perish in a week. Ah, surely he must have made a mistake! You're too young to die! You don't smoke, you eat your vegetables, and you exercise every day. You're in prime health and there is no way you can have any kind of problem.
"As you begin to realize that no, there was no mistake, you move on to anger. It's perfectly natural to feel anger or frustration when things don't go according to plan, and for most people, an early death is most definitely not something you want to have happen. But there's nothing you can do to stop it. You're helpless. Powerless. You may begin to cast blame at everything you can. The doctor for clearly being too stupid to cure you. Your parents for giving you terrible genetics. The Gods for letting this happen. The possible targets are endless, even if nobody is truly at fault.
"Then we have bargaining. Making promises to the gods, to others, and to yourself that if you just make it through this, you can change. You'll be a better spouse, parent, student, whatever.You have too many regrets to die now! If you can just live long enough to do one thing in your life, fine, you'll happily pass on after that!
"But of course pleading isn't going to change anything. This most likely causes you to become depressed. All the guilt, helplessness, the sadness of leaving your loved ones behind... Why wouldn't it depress you? It's unpleasant, but a completely normal part of the process.
If you live long enough through these stages, but know that you're just on death's door, you may finally feel acceptance for your situation. You know there's nothing you can do, and perhaps you're too weak and tired to bother fighting it anymore. You're ready to die."
She paused, glancing to the doorway. Then she sighed quietly to herself before continuing.
"Write a short personal essay on which of these stages you may have gone through during last month's poison scare. How did you feel? Now that you've gone through them once, how do you feel about death and general? Only write what you're comfortable sharing. That's it."
What: DOUBLE BLACKY LOG ALL THE WAY... but this one is a class.
When: October 11, 6pm
Warnings: PROBABLY LOADS OF ANGST. What is wrong with you children.
Ideally, she would have given this lesson about a month ago. But Blacky had a terrible habit of putting things off for long periods of time. Particularly things she didn't want to deal with but couldn't officially say that she wouldn't. Things in the curriculum, for instance.
Oh well. Better now than randomly having it at all the way after year-end exams. That would just be stupid.
"Good evening, class. Today we'll be taking a look at what's known as the Five Stages of Dying."
She wrote the topic on the board and underlined it.
"Some of you may have heard of it. The theory is that when someone realizes that they only have a short time to live, they go through a series of five different mindsets before their death. Now, not everybody goes through all of them, and the time spent in each stage may vary, but for the most part the stages seem to be commonly expressed by people on their death bed."
Now came the bullet points!
"First we have denial: Suppose the doctor tells you that you have a deadly disease and will perish in a week. Ah, surely he must have made a mistake! You're too young to die! You don't smoke, you eat your vegetables, and you exercise every day. You're in prime health and there is no way you can have any kind of problem.
"As you begin to realize that no, there was no mistake, you move on to anger. It's perfectly natural to feel anger or frustration when things don't go according to plan, and for most people, an early death is most definitely not something you want to have happen. But there's nothing you can do to stop it. You're helpless. Powerless. You may begin to cast blame at everything you can. The doctor for clearly being too stupid to cure you. Your parents for giving you terrible genetics. The Gods for letting this happen. The possible targets are endless, even if nobody is truly at fault.
"Then we have bargaining. Making promises to the gods, to others, and to yourself that if you just make it through this, you can change. You'll be a better spouse, parent, student, whatever.You have too many regrets to die now! If you can just live long enough to do one thing in your life, fine, you'll happily pass on after that!
"But of course pleading isn't going to change anything. This most likely causes you to become depressed. All the guilt, helplessness, the sadness of leaving your loved ones behind... Why wouldn't it depress you? It's unpleasant, but a completely normal part of the process.
If you live long enough through these stages, but know that you're just on death's door, you may finally feel acceptance for your situation. You know there's nothing you can do, and perhaps you're too weak and tired to bother fighting it anymore. You're ready to die."
She paused, glancing to the doorway. Then she sighed quietly to herself before continuing.
"Write a short personal essay on which of these stages you may have gone through during last month's poison scare. How did you feel? Now that you've gone through them once, how do you feel about death and general? Only write what you're comfortable sharing. That's it."