-George E. Dickinson
Thinking of death is kind of scary. We never know what is to come in the "afterlife". We never know when our time is.What we do know is that death is real and it is guaranteed.
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| Dr. Dickinson talking to us during his visit. |
Thinking of death is kind of scary. We never know what is to come in the "afterlife". We never know when our time is.What we do know is that death is real and it is guaranteed.
Our class, on April 2, had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Dickinson and hearing his expertise on death and dying. He has been a professor at the College of Charleston for 30 years and teaches death and dying, sociology, and aging.
During his visit, he explained "the American way of death" to us. I thought there were some really interesting things that he shared with our class!
One thing that stood out to me the most was that our society denies death. "We avoid death conversations, we don't feel comfortable with it." This is so true because a lot of people do not want to face the fact that death is real. Even if they have understood that death is real, it is not a thing that people want to discuss.
Euphemisms are used to explain death in a less harsh way. For example, someone may say "Your mother has passed away, or there's been an accident".
Another point that he made was that there is a fear or anxiety of death. “There is a fear of what is out there in the unknown”. We don’t have a definite answer to where we go, so obviously, there is a fear. Near death, we think about loved ones, things we love in life and sadness takes over. This happens because we are going to lose them and they’re losing that person. “We were taught to be independent”. Near death, the person is losing their independence, if due to medical reasons.
He also mentioned that there is a Swiss-American psychiatrist named Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and her five steps of the dying process.
1. It is very common to deny death because we don’t want to hear it.
One thing that stood out to me the most was that our society denies death. "We avoid death conversations, we don't feel comfortable with it." This is so true because a lot of people do not want to face the fact that death is real. Even if they have understood that death is real, it is not a thing that people want to discuss.
Euphemisms are used to explain death in a less harsh way. For example, someone may say "Your mother has passed away, or there's been an accident".
Another point that he made was that there is a fear or anxiety of death. “There is a fear of what is out there in the unknown”. We don’t have a definite answer to where we go, so obviously, there is a fear. Near death, we think about loved ones, things we love in life and sadness takes over. This happens because we are going to lose them and they’re losing that person. “We were taught to be independent”. Near death, the person is losing their independence, if due to medical reasons.
He also mentioned that there is a Swiss-American psychiatrist named Elizabeth Kubler-Ross and her five steps of the dying process.
1. It is very common to deny death because we don’t want to hear it.
2. Anger as well, if someone is really angry, they may take it out on a person who is working in a medical setting (just being a stage of death).
3. Bargaining and trying to do things for God in order to make it further, rather than dying.
4. There is also depression, in which the person accepts the fact that they're dying but is very upset about the situation.
5. With acceptance, most doctors suggest that most people are pretty accepting that they’re dying, especially at old age.
I was actually very interested in what he had to say. Mostly, because there are so many things that he said and they were true, but I never really thought about them. I enjoyed his lecture and may even take one of his courses throughout my college career!
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