For many, grief can be considered one of the strongest feelings a human can endure. While most people like to think of it in a negative light, I believe that grief has a way of making others realize how much they take their loved ones for granted. It motivates them to finally see the bigger picture in life and properly sort out their priorities. For me, grief played a role in making me the person I am today, and that being said, I am proud of who I have become. On June 5th, 2015, my uncle Greg unexpectedly passed away. When I look back to that day, I do not remember how I initially reacted to the news, but I surely remember how my two little cousins’ faces turned from utter confusion to a complete state of shock when they were told that their dad was not coming home. Like them, I could not differentiate between what was real and what was perceived to be real. I just could not wrap the concept of my uncle really passing away around my head. At that moment in time, when I thought of death, I only thought of it as a notion that only involved elderly people. Looking back, I cannot believe how naïve I was to think that youth miraculously barred death from occurring. Death has its own rules to play by; even if you have two young …show more content…
Life was unfair sometimes and unfortunately, it took a bad event for me to realize that. Instead of cherishing the moments I had with my uncle, I used my time desperately wishing for him to come back. My uncle Greg was like a second dad to me, and losing him was the worst feeling I have ever experienced. While there have been other deaths in my family, I was too young to fully comprehend what was actually going on. Unlike the other family members that have passed away, my uncle’s life seemed like it ended with an open book. After a few weeks, I realized that I could play a part in making sure my uncle Greg’s book could finally be closed by helping my
Loss and How We Cope We all deal with death in our lives, and that is why Michael Lassell’s “How to Watch Your Brother Die” resonates with so many readers. It confronts the struggles of dealing with death. Lassell writes the piece like a field guide, an instruction set for dealing with death, but the piece is much more complex than its surface appearance. It touches on ideas of acceptance, regret, and misunderstanding, to name a few. While many of us can identify with this story, I feel like the story I brought into the text has had a much deeper and profound impact.
In the United States and worldwide people have different culture, beliefs and attitude about death. Over the past years, death is an emotional and controversy topic that is not easy to talk about. Everyone have a different definition of what is death and when do you know that a person is really dead. In the book Death, Society, and Human Experiences by Robert J. Kastenbaum demonstrates that you are alive, even when doctors pronounce you dead.
Kids are more afair of death than adults are. Kids do not underdstand death like adults. In one of our class discussions , Dr. Bradshaw told our class a story about how he went to Yale New Haven hospital (I think) and Dr. Bradshaw stated that a young boy who was a terminal cancer patient drew him a picture of a tank going after him. When Dr. Bradshaw told our class this , it was then clear to me that a child does not understand death as well as adults. But there are also ways a parent can help a child with breavement like buying the child a pet and when that pet dies, explain to the kid whay the pet died and that it can not be replaced. “childeren are capeable of experiencing greif” (DeSpilder 359). Childeren tend to be more quiet when dealing with a death of someone close. Childeren like to forget the sight of a dead one and try and move on without talking to anyone.
Exploring the assumption that whilst death may be inevitable, and although grief is managed in different ways, it still instructs us through emotional and intellectual encounters with mortality.
Herman published The Meaning of Death in 1959 a piece of writing that would galvanize the interest for psychologists to study death. Prior to publication, Feifel joined the Air Force in 1942 as a psychologist for pilots during WWII and became very intrigued that the best pilots didn’t think about death (Herman, 1990). In addition, during the screening of pilots they were never asked about how they felt about death, what would happen to their family if they die, and what they would consider a dignified death (Herman, 1990). During the Holocaust Feifel witnessed the manslaughter of the Jewish population, he was surrounded by death. Throughout Feifels experiences and the death of his mother in 1952, he wanted to investigate the thought process of death at the conscious level and the unconscious level (Herman, 1990). Until Feifel began investing the psychology of death and how people felt about death itself, there was very little research on death. His research and commitment revealed the importance of studying death attitudes, and those actually facing life-threatening
According to Dictionary.com, grief is defined as “keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss; sharp sorrow; painful regret.” Grief, to many, is a terrible thing and it can materially affect a person and change their personality. What people don’t remember after enduring a tragedy, is that healing happens
John L McIntosh. (2003) . Handbook of Death and Dying. Volume 1: The Presence of Death. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Reference.
Death is sometimes considered unthinkable. People do not wish to think of loved ones dying. When someone close to us dies we are over come with sadness. We wish we had more time with them. Their death shows us the importance of that person’s role in our lives. We begin to think of how we will live our lives without them. We think of all the moments we shared with them, they live again in our memories. Perhaps death is considered unthinkable because we fe...
For me, experiencing grief from losing a loved family member, specifically my closest aunt at the age of seven made me open to experiencing true sadness for the first time. During that grieving process I went through the multiple stages of grieving which were denial, anger, depression, and finally acceptance which helped me over this emotional obstacle to become a mentally stronger individual. Something so powerful as grief takes a huge toll on anyone’s life and hold them to a momentary stop to process their surroundings and think what is the next course of action. A heartfelt experience such as grief for any person to experience allows us to learn from that period of hurting and realize that each hardship that we overcome, allows us to become mentally stronger as a person. Butler discusses the importance of grief by stating, “On the contrary, grief displays the way in which we are in the thrall of our relations with others that we cannot always recount or explain, that often interrupts the self-conscious account of ourselves as autonomous and in control.”
One thing that we often hear is that “death is just a part of life.” So often in our day and age do we hear people utter these words. However, death is far more significant and impactful than some would allege. True death is not merely a time when we cease to exist; it is an entombment, a mindset in which we are dead to this world. Throughout our lives, it is true that we can all be dead in one way or another, but it does not have to be that way. When we have our eyes opened to what death actually is, it is far easier to grasp what the true meaning of life is, and to embrace it. Often, we will come across individuals who are enveloped in death and others who are immersed in true life. The shadow of death and entombment lies upon some, encompassing
Leming, M., & Dickinson, G. (2011). Understanding dying, death, & bereavement. (7th ed., pp. 471-4). Belmont, California: Wadsworth.
The word grief means a reaction that an individual show particularly for losing someone or something that they are very precious. Grief can be associated with anything like loss of loved ones, relationship breakage, pet death or loss of something that is very precious. Grief is a natural reaction to loss, which is combination of an emotion and psychological response to loss (Wilson, 2012). The process of grief has some dimensions as behavioral, cultural, cognitive, social and philosophical (Sooter, Chikaraishi, & Hedges, 2014). Bereavement is the process of grieving and letting go of the loved one who has passed away. People mourn is affected by religious, belief, culture and customs (Care, 2013). The term bereavement is interlinked with the process
Death is the unfortunate event in which the people on this Earth have to embrace as a part of life. Most can relate to death in some way whether it be by relating to someone who has died or being close to someone that has lived this eventual nightmare everyone can relate to death and grief in some type of way. According to the OED, grief is the “... act or fact of dying; the end of life; the final cessation of the vital functions of an individual.” Death and grief are forever in the lives of death’s victims, with no known cure, just nullified existence to help lessen the pain. As the grieving process becomes an essential element to families affected by death, a developing mentality can be forever shaped by the components of death, grief, and redemption.
I have felt the pain of the loss of a Sister; have felt the pain of the death of my Mother, and felt the death of my Father. I know how it feels. I experienced it. It is painful, looking at those old kind folks who bore you; who took care of you; went through all kinds of sacrifices and pains just to look after you for years and years, until one day the child stood on one’s own two feet, and then … there they are, the parents, helpless and lifeless in front of you.
Two years and four months ago I died. A terrible condition struck me, and I was unable to do anything about it. In a matter of less than a year, it crushed down all of my hopes and dreams. This condition was the death of my mother. Even today, when I talk about it, I burst into tears because I feel as though it was yesterday. I desperately tried to forget, and that meant living in denial about what had happened. I never wanted to speak about it whenever anyone would ask me how I felt. To lose my Mom meant losing my life. I felt I died with her. Many times I wished I had given up, but I knew it would break the promise we made years before she passed away. Therefore, I came back from the dead determined and more spirited than before.