There has to be dignity in death
Lynne Watson, a celebrant, has brought to our attention a powerful and poignant article in the Daily Mail. Thank you, Lynne. It’s about a doctor, Kate Granger, who is 29 and dying of cancer, has said no to any more chemotherapy. Here are some extracts to give you a taste: As a doctor, I am very […]
Quote of the day
“If, as we get on each day living in the present, we spend some time seriously thinking about [death]; if we talk about it now and then – here, perhaps, and with friends and relatives; if we seek out and read what others have written about it; if we ponder it quietly from […]
What price eternity?
Following Michael Jarvis’s piece earlier today, I’m beginning to wonder whether death-denial isn’t more prevalent among the elderly than the young. In the September Oldie magazine (strapline: ‘ticking the right boxes’) agony aunt Mavis Nicholson prints a couple of letters from readers: Dear Mavis Re your piece in the Summer issue on dying, I’m so glad I’m […]
Taboo or not taboo?
Posted by Michael Jarvis, onetime Manager of the Natural Death Centre For very many people in the UK ‘death’ is a subject left unmentioned. If you are reading this then you are part of a minority. A minority, furthermore, who would generally like to see more public openness regarding dying, death and funerals. We know the benefits: […]
I hated my brother. When he died, all I felt was happiness…
Liz Hodgkinson writing in The Daily Mail 31 July 2012 The news came as a shock, yes, but it didn’t provoke tears, or even any sense of grief. I’d just heard from my niece that my brother Richard had died of a heart attack, aged 62, following an apparently minor operation. And all I felt […]
From consumption to diabetes – changing causes of death in New England
Posted by Vale Back in 1812 in Boston it was consumption that was most likely to kill you, although out of 942 recorded deaths, teething killed 15 and childbed 14, the same number that were killed by the quinsy. In 1900 tuberculosis was near the top of the list, but pneumonia or influenza had overtaken […]
Last things
Posted by Vale When I was at school there was a short lived craze for making yourself faint. If I recall, you hyperventilated and then got a friend to squeeze you round the chest, at which point you passed out. It’s now claimed that this is equivalent to a near death experience. There’s a discussion […]
Picturing Hell – in Lego bricks
Posted by Vale We all wonder about what might happen to us when we die. Well, Dante had the lowdown. While the rest of us wander lost in the woods, he described Hell, Purgatory and Heaven in great detail. The funny thing is that while we might hope for heaven, we all have the sneaking […]
A modern Danse Macabre
Posted by Vale The tradition for images of the Danse Macabre is of death alongside all of the different classes and stations in society. The message is clear – he is coming for us all. Here is a more recent version of the old tradition in a series of terrific woodcuts from the artist Hermann-Paul […]
Learning to dance with death
Posted by Vale I was reading the vision statement for the Dying Matters Coalition recently (as you do) and stubbed my toe on their ambition to address death, dying and bereavement in a way that: ’will involve a fundamental change in society in which dying, death and bereavement will be seen and accepted as the […]
