A Good Death

I have just heard about Death Cafe's - http://deathcafe.com/ & the Kicking the Bucket Festival - http://www.kickingthebucket.co.uk/index.htm . Brilliant! Bring Death out into the open, into the mainstream, into the light of day. Let's get rid of the taboos & talk about the issues openly. Don't let Death skulk in the shadows of our fears, at the back of our minds where s/he can do immense damage.

At some level we all know we are dying. Some are terrified, some lucky people are accepting, some refuse to contemplate the inevitable at all. In the end we all have to face it. Better to do that before our final breath & have a "Good Death" rather than a painful or frightened ending, with lose ends remaining for our family & friends to try to deal with.

The people who are facing the ending of their lives need to be able to make decisions about what they want. They need to be able to communicate those decisions to the people who will have to carry them out. If we have consciously chosen what we want & don't want some of the fear recedes into the background. If we have discussed the issue & shared our thoughts with those closest to us we have helped them immesurably. They will know our wishes at a time when they are, hopefully, mourning our loss.

Death has no thrall if we have faced it toe to toe. The only thing to be afraid of is how we die. No one wants to be in pain & alone as they drift into the unknown.

"Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new". Steve Jobbs.

"There's something about death that is comforting. The thought that you could die tomorrow frees you to appreciate your life now" - Angelina Jolie