Death. Is it the beginning of a never ending silence? We must be more than this blood, this fragile flesh that my eyes can gaze upon. The way my body takes in the cold air and turns the energy from food into energy that my body can use to move, to think, to rearrange molecules, is merely a machine made of flesh and blood. The way that my brain can transmit thoughts can be explained. However what those thoughts are, and why I think them can not. My thoughts are determined by my soul, by my conciseness, by the unexplained beauty that makes us who we really are. The flesh is so weak, but our conciseness is so undeniably amazing it makes my eyes well with tears thinking of the beauty that lies within us.
When you see death come, you can not help but imagine what happens to that beauty. It can not fade away into thoughtlessness, into something that is nothing.
Or can it?
Are we just a cosmic mistake? Are we just a mixture of chemicals that for unexplained reasons created what we are today? And long before the sun burns out and the life on this planet is sucked from existence, will we be nothing, no memories, no thoughts, no life, no meaning?
Tell me what you think. I want to know. Are we all for nothing or is there something more to us than just flesh?
• Stages of Dying
1. Denial and Isolation: Used by almost all patients in some form. It is a usually temporary shock response to bad news. Isolation arises from people, even family members, avoiding the dying person. People can slip back into this stage when there are new developments or the person feels they can no longer cope.
2. Anger: Different ways of expression
-Anger at God: "Why me?" Feeling that others are more deserving.
-Envy of others: Other people don't seem to care, they are enjoying life while the dying person experiences pain. Others aren't dying.
-Projected on environment: Anger towards doctors, nurses, and families.
3. Bargaining: A brief stage, hard to study because it is often between patient and God.
-If God didn't respond to anger, maybe being "good" will work.
-Attempts to postpone: "If only I could live to see . . ."
4. Depression: Mourning for losses
-Reactive depression (past losses): loss of job, hobbies, mobility.
