Alia: More on the Death Culture

In the early 1980s in the San Francisco Bay Area, there was a rising tide of talk concerning "death with dignity", and there arose at the (usual) socialist colleges course work for those wishing to be "grief counselors". Two of my pals went through these courses and became credentialed "grief counselors". Their job(s) were to help a family (including the near-deceased) into this process of "death and dying [with dignity]" by therapeutic means and methods.

At that time, the big talk was not about the costs of keeping a person alive; but rather the discomfort to those who were dying and wished to die at home. What came out of this movement? "AT HOME HEALTH CARE". And RNS wishing to specialize in the "at home healthcare" methods needed to take these courses on "death and dying" and "grief counseling".

Not long after, euthanasia and the "right-to-die" movements were the drumbeat.

I met Elizabeth Kubler-Ross many years ago; my mother had terminal cancer. I grew up understanding "death and dying" alongside my cheerios from the time I was 6 years old. EKR's "stages of death" were good models. And with all good things, the "right to die" people took her models to an extreme -- a political extreme.

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I've met with a great deal of despair in others these past two weeks. Laments. I've comforted others; exhorted others.

To those in need of exhortation: If you fear doing great works in your life as they may be turned into a nasty end by those with an agenda, then you are a fool. For it is due great works in our daily lives that our society be civil and just and fair. If you fear the permanance of your works will be undone in your absence, then you were doing them for the wrong reasons.

Lift up your Hearts!


Mainstream media unreported conflicts of interest in Schiavo tragedy