>> "It was their time." "They lived a good life." "Death gives meaning to life."
Of these, the first two sound like empty platitudes said to avoid an awkward conversation witht the relatives of a deceased person. The last one, I don't know what it means. It sounds like a contradiction to me and I really wonder what you mean by "a huge number", for this experssion in particular. Personally, I would only use the words "huge number" to describe the behaviour of a group of people if I was talking about, say, a crowd in a stadium, which is many more people than I'm ever likely to have a conversation about death with. So, forgive me if I keep my doubts about your assessment of the general public's attitudes about mortality, only from your experience of such conversations.
Literature is another issue altogether. I agree that there is plenty of literature of the kind you describe and I'm sure someone must already have conducted a study, even. On the other hand, for every "Who wants to live forever" kind of story, there is a Dylan Thomas, or at the very least a Love Story (the 1970 film- if you google it, beware of the SPOILERS) that laments the death of a loved one as the greatest tragedy that can befall a human being. And let's not even start on religion and its promises of life eternal and raising of the dead.
But, since I'm chomping at the bit for a chance to quote this in its entirety:
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
- Dylan Thomas, Do not go Gentle into that Good Night.
Indeed, I, for one, intend to kick and scream, and bite and scratch, and drag my heels all the way to the grave.
Of these, the first two sound like empty platitudes said to avoid an awkward conversation witht the relatives of a deceased person. The last one, I don't know what it means. It sounds like a contradiction to me and I really wonder what you mean by "a huge number", for this experssion in particular. Personally, I would only use the words "huge number" to describe the behaviour of a group of people if I was talking about, say, a crowd in a stadium, which is many more people than I'm ever likely to have a conversation about death with. So, forgive me if I keep my doubts about your assessment of the general public's attitudes about mortality, only from your experience of such conversations.
Literature is another issue altogether. I agree that there is plenty of literature of the kind you describe and I'm sure someone must already have conducted a study, even. On the other hand, for every "Who wants to live forever" kind of story, there is a Dylan Thomas, or at the very least a Love Story (the 1970 film- if you google it, beware of the SPOILERS) that laments the death of a loved one as the greatest tragedy that can befall a human being. And let's not even start on religion and its promises of life eternal and raising of the dead.
But, since I'm chomping at the bit for a chance to quote this in its entirety:
- Dylan Thomas, Do not go Gentle into that Good Night.Indeed, I, for one, intend to kick and scream, and bite and scratch, and drag my heels all the way to the grave.