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“Fear of Death” Through the Years

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“Fear of Death” Through the Years
“Fear of Death” Through the Years In the story by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, “On the Fear of Death” the author goes into detail about the advances made in medicine and technology over the decades; how we fear death and why we try to prolong the life of a loved one. In reading Dr. Kubler-Ross’ opinions and life experiences, I have come to agree with her opinion; “value of dying at home” rather than a traumatic and prolonged existence by machines. In her essay, Dr. Kubler-Ross explains how modern medicine has saved many lives over generations that may not survived had the science never been discovered. People are living longer and children are surviving illnesses that decades ago would have killed them. However,
On the other side of the coin, there is a price to pay for some of these cures. There are mental risks involved with these new medical miracles. She also talks about how we grieve or cause others to grieve. For instance when we explain to a child how someone died, with what we feel is an explanation they can understand and we want to make them feel better. We tell them that God was ready for that person to come home to live with him or that person was so good that God wanted them with him, in turn we can cause that child to have resentment for God. Dr. Kubler-Ross also gives insight to her experiences as a child, of being allowed to participate in the death and grieving process of a neighbor and how it was part of the countries culture. She also gives explanations into other cultures death and grieving processes .
For example: Hebrews, American Natives, Egyptians just to name a few. Dr. Kubler-Ross states
“We would think that our great emancipation, our knowledge of science and of man, has given us better ways and means to prepare ourselves and our families for this inevitable happening.
Instead the days are gone when a man was allowed to die in peace and dignity in his own home.” She believes the more

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