Serious stuff. Maybe because, for me, the relentless hot hell of a Texas summer brings out the gloomy. I’ll perk up in, say, late October when the temperatures drop out of the 90s. Today it’ll be 103. No rain, of course.
I read most of a special report “How to Die”. (How to face the end? Peacefully? Still fighting? With all of medicine's help? Or naturally?)
My two favorites are:
Ken Murray | Zocalo | 4 December 2011
"What’s unusual is not how much treatment they get compared to most Americans, but how little. For all the time they spend fending off the deaths of others, they tend to be fairly serene when faced with death themselves.”
Physicians make it clear -- even to getting it tattooed on their bodies [NO CODE]-- that they do not want to get in the way of their own deaths. Most doctors believe that well-meaning relatives cause considerable pain and harm (not to mention, expense) by insisting that everything possible be done for their loved one who is dying.
HL Mencken | Letters Of Note | 1 February 2012
Mencken’s letter is not so much about death and dying but about how to live. An avowed nonbeliever, Mencken’s attitude toward death was pragmatic and … confident.
In 1931 philosopher Will Durant asked a select few about life, death, religion. Mencken's reply is memorable. "When I die I shall be content to vanish into nothingness. No show, however good, could conceivably be good for ever."
And, what’s particularly surprising to me is how uplifted I felt after reading most of the 15 essays of the series. Perhaps it’s because it’s welcome to have discussion and conversation about our deepest fear – the monsters in the dark corners shrink considerably when the light is turned upon them…
