Attitude towards death

Introduction

Regardless of where and how we were born, we are all connected through culture and the fact remains that everyone has to die. Culture is considered as an important aspect and vary in the conceptualization of death and what happens for an individual to die (Irish et al., 2014).  In our culture, we believe that death is conceived or brought by different conditions such as reaching a certain age, sleep and illness. In other cultures, it is believed that death only occurs when there is total termination of life. Relatively in another culture it is believed that death is a transition from one life to another. In this case death is considered to be a change in the form of existence.

Continuous interaction between rebirths and death is also believed to be cause of death in our society. This is connected to the circular pattern and cycle of multiple rebirth and deaths in the society.  Every culture has its own conception about earth and therefore those conceptualizations have constituted to different influence of lifestyles and the causes and readiness tom die (Lehto et al., 2009). They have also influenced the degree to which people worry about death and how they express themselves when mourning and grieved and the nature of their rituals on the funeral services. In some cultures, close relatives are requested to shave their heads, wear certain clothes and also show grief for a period of time. While in others mourning involves drinking and dancing.

My attitude towards death has been influenced by cognitive abilities and culture. I believe that each and everyone has to die after the experiences of being born and living. I am aware that death is unpredictable and inevitable and that death can induce feelings of war and anxiety (McLeod‐Sordjan,2014). In my perspective, I consider death to be a multi-faceted construct that is hard to define but is conceptualized by the fear of someone and the fear of death of others. Personally, I rarely attend funeral services because they make me uncomfortable and uneasy.  This is due to my grief experience as a result to the response to resultant death. Death of someone close changes the physical appearance and has effect on my day to day tasks due to memories and fear of death. The fact that death is something that comes unexpected you may find that someone is still checking in someone’s bedroom to see if they are still there. This is because of the emotional reality that is caused by death.

Belief

As a Christian, we believe that those that die go to haven to spend their time with God. Once they have died it is believed that the funeral time is the moment that we should be happy about their life and where they are heading to. It is the time of joy although there is sadness due to the loss of a loved one as the person has to be missed by the loved ones. The church minister is responsible for visiting the friends and relatives to help them prepare and discuss about their death.  At this time, the church minister has to offer an assistance and comfort that the family in order to cope with the loss of their loved ones. We Christians believe that a person can be buried or cremated depending on their desire. The ceremony is held in church or in the home of the deceased. Then the burial takes place where the body or the ashes are buried and marked with a grieve stone. Afterwards people celebrate the birthday of the deceased as a way to remember the deceased.

Conclusion

Death is viewed differently depending to one’s culture and attitude towards death. Death may be a s result of certain things that are unpredictable and unavoidable.  It is challenging to process the pain of the grief which may even cause serious illness. It is important to find a way in which one can adjust to the normal world after being grieved because death is natural and has to happen.

References

Irish, D. P., Lundquist, K. F., & Nelsen, V. J. (2014). Ethnic variations in dying, death and grief: Diversity in universality. Taylor & Francis.

McLeod‐Sordjan, R. (2014). Death preparedness: a concept analysis. Journal of advanced nursing, 70(5), 1008-1019.

Lehto, R., & Stein, K. (2009). Death anxiety: an analysis of an evolving concept.