What does dying feel like? (4)
In late December 2007 blogger Carla Zilbersmith, actor, singer, director, was diagnosed with ALS, a fatal motor neurone disease. Here’s how she greeted the diagnosis: Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s bullshit that I have to go this way. I don’t like it one bit. But that’s the hand I’ve been dealt and all […]
Making some sort of sense of it all
Your life experience is unique to you. What you’ve done in your life, what’s happened to you and the sense you’ve made of it all amount to a precious and extraordinary story. Even if you don’t feel the need to write a whole book about it, you almost certainly have a strong desire to pass […]
What does dying feel like? 3
In general it’s irresponsible, contemptible, to adopt the role of helpless bystander. We don’t like helpless bystanders. Their body language is all wrong, so are their faces. Sometimes, though, you’ve just got to be one. When the plumber calls I serenade him with cups of coffee and ingratiating solicitude, then vamoose, trusting and helpless. What […]
What does dying feel like? 2
No one writes about death and funerals with greater wisdom, wit or feel for words than the poet-undertaker Thomas Lynch. Is that point of view disputable? I think not. But go on, dispute it all the same. Where healthy debate is concerned, there is harmony only in discord. Following on from my last post, here’s, if you […]
What does dying feel like?
For a while, now, I have been looking for someone to tell me what dying feels like. Tricky topic, I know, all the best witnesses being dead. Silly thing to do, friends have told me, don’t waste your time. Dr Geoffrey Garret, onetime senior Home Office pathologist, tells us what dying looks like: Life has […]
