Not So Morbid After All: How Death Calls Us to Embrace Life
“But death is so depressing!” If you study death and dying, I’ll bet you’ve had your share of interactions that go something like this: Them: “You do…what? Death work?” You: “That’s right!” Them: “But you’re young and healthy! You don’t have to worry about this stuff yet. Death is so depressing and morbid!” *Awkward silence* Unfortunately, talking about death is still viewed by many people as morbid, weird, and largely unnecessary. Don’t get me wrong; there have been some wonderfully positive steps initiated by the death-positive movement. Yet, the subject remains largely inaccessible to most people, especially those outside of the death work space. For them, death is “the unthinkable,” something uncomfortable to keep in its dark box until some other day. Whenever that arrives. It’s interesting how we as a society refuse to acknowledge death…but then we sort of do acknowledge it through our vernacular. For instance, think about those pithy…