Plain Talk on Death & Dying: An Evening Designed to Encourage and Guide Meaningful, Useful, and Important Conversations About End-of- Life and Death

• Religion & Spirituality

Deborah Starr, PhD

How is our relationship with death defined by cultural experience? Is there a normal way to die? What do doctors know? What do the dying know? And their caregivers? Is there a better death than we currently imagine and experience? How can death teach us about living and inform the choices we make and the opportunities we create at the end of life? Our current Western/American culture tends to deny death. Media’s emphasis on youth and the anti-aging craze make the topic of death all the more taboo.

This is quite remarkable, considering death happens to each and every one of us. Denial of death is problematic as it disallows thoughtful decision making about real end-of-life issues. Such denial often results in unfortunate and unnecessary experiences of pain, suffering, and isolation in addition to unexpected financial burdens. Open-hearted and candid conversations can alter this.