Monthly Archives: March 2018

An Eco-friendly Afterlife

Posted on March 29, 2018 by | 1 comment

With growing concern for the environment and humans’ impact on the environment, some have recently become dissatisfied with current options for the internment of themselves and their loved ones. Cremation, on average, utilizes the same amount of electricity as one person would use in an entire month. It also releases greenhouse gases into the environment, something many have been attempting to lower for decades. Traditional burial isn’t as eco-friendly as some would like either. Most coffins are made from wood, which is a concern because of growing deforestation. Additionally, heavy machinery is usually required, again emitting gases into the atmosphere. There is also growing worry that embalming fluids, over time, could leak into the ground and contaminate water sources.

 

For those who are deeply concerned about improving the environment, this has left them in a conundrum of what to do when they pass away. Some have considered the option of a biodegradable coffin, which eliminates the concern for trees, but again, burials typically require heavy machinery, which some eco-conscious individuals wish to avoid. This is the situation Katrina Spade found herself in. She had no religious or cultural ties that she felt she would need to honor after death. While searching for a solution to her dilemma, she happened across a technique used by farmers for large animals who died. Some farmers compost large animals and use the compost on the farm.

 

This sparked an idea for Spade and she decided to develop the Urban Death Project, now known as Recompose. Recompose is dedicated to finding a way to compost the deceased to truly give back to the environment. Spade describes the process as combining corpses with wood chips and aerating them in a reusable module, as the recomposing process occurs, the bodies sink down into a composting bay. As one body sinks down, others are added on top, though Spade only plans to have two services a day to limit time constraints on families. After around 30 days, the material is sifted and the compost is removed to be used in public parks, though friends and family are encouraged to take some compost for their own gardens.

 

While this eco-friendly option isn’t currently available, Spade hopes to soon make it a reality. Currently headquartered in Seattle, Recompose has registered as a Public Benefit Corporation and has stated that they are attempting to emulate nature, because nature is really good a death. Recompose has also stated that they are dedicated to making this as accessible to everyone as they can, and that they aren’t concerned with profit. This option may not be for everyone, and that is understandable, however, for those concerned with their lasting carbon footprint, Recompose may be the answer to their queries.  

 

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150219-i-will-be-composted-when-i-die

https://www.recompose.life/

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Celebrating the Death of an Evil Person

Posted on March 28, 2018 by | 2 comments

In our society, when someone is on the brink of death it is common for the patient’s loved ones to ask for prayers. We pray for the person to overcome whatever it may be that is ailing them and hope they get back on their feet as soon as possible. If this person should die, it is natural for everyone who has been praying for them become sad. Following the death, a mourning period ensues with the goal of remembering the life of the patient and in a good amount of situations still wishing he or she were alive. But, is this always the case? Are there instances where we wholeheartedly hope that someone dies or celebrate instead of mourn when they do pass away?

I came across a video on Facebook recently, and I got thinking about whether it is morally wrong to celebrate an evil person’s death. This video I saw was from a MLB game featuring the Philadelphia Phillies vs the New York Mets in Philadelphia on May 1, 2001. May 1, 2001 was the day the U.S. successfully executed a mission to kill Osama bin Laden. The video showed the Phillies fans celebrating in the stadium upon learning through their phones and word of mouth about the death of the Bin Laden. At that point, the baseball game took a clear back seat, and the crowd was in a frenzy.

I do not have a clear opinion on whether it is morally “wrong” to celebrate an evil person’s death, but I am able to see both sides of the coin regarding this question. Technically speaking, one human life isn’t worth more than that of another human. However, we as a society are quick to label people as “good” or “bad” and these labels no doubt affect the value we place on people. With Bin Laden though, I think it is fairly safe to claim as a whole most people find him to be a person with evil intentions. As mentioned before, however; his life isn’t worth any less than a “good” person’s life, per se.

Although the majority of people thought similarly, obviously not everyone believed Bin Laden was an evil person. For example, his followers and other extremists certainly didn’t think of Bin Laden in a bad light, and most even saw him as a respected leader. Those who respected him definitely had a different reaction than the Phillies fans the day Bin Laden was killed. These questions can be applied to Adolf Hitler as well, a man who may be regarded as the evilest person in human history. As an American, I was proud to hear about Bin Laden’s death. I believe he was an evil person and that was the only just punishment for him. Ultimately, I think mourning or celebrating a person who is considered evil on the level of Bin Laden comes down to several factors. One of them is how you value a life. If you think that all lives are equal, then perhaps you may think it is wrong to mourn ANYONE’S death. Another factor is obviously your relationship to the person. All Americans were happy about Bin Laden’s death but as mentioned before the rest of Al-Qaeda was probably not. I do not advocate for either side, but I certainly do think this is a viable question that has several variants of both sides of the coin.

To see the atmosphere at the Phillies game, take a look at this video.

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Putting the Fun in Funeral

Posted on March 26, 2018 by | 1 comment

What describes your life? Is it a camera? A football? Maybe a plane? I have a hard time picking an object that sums up my life, but some people have the perfect idea in mind.

That is where Paa Joe from the Ga tribe in coastal Ghana comes in. Unlike modern Americans, people in Ghana celebrate death and commonly commemorate it with elaborate and unique coffins. The living aim to honor their dead with coffins that represent their legacy. Paa Joe, after almost five decades in the business, now works with his son to handcraft these highly sought after caskets. His son explains that their coffins

“remind people that life continues after death, that when someone dies they will go on in the afterlife, so it is important that they go in style.”

Ghanian families and surrounding community members place much value on showcasing the part that contemporary African art plays life and death.  They strongly believe that the dead must be buried in something that represents the role they played while alive, in order to remember where they come from and what they have left behind as they move into the afterlife. Although these handmade coffins can cost upwards of $15,000, people of the Ga tribe believe that it is more honorable to live in lifelong debt because of the burial ceremony than it is to cut the costs of a proper funeral. In conjunction with the idea that the funeral is the culmination of all life events, it is extremely vital to allocate all resources to executing this ritual in the proper fashion.

I find it very interesting that although the casket appearance is intended to encapsulate someone’s entire life, the people within the casket actually have no say in deciding what that object will be. Family and friends are tasked with the job of determining what they commission Paa Joe to create. What object will a part time fisherman, talented artist, soccer-loving father be placed in?

Reducing a person to the representation of a singular object goes hand in hand with the impersonal nature of the cadaver. The cadaver may symbolize the person and the life they once had, but in itself is bereft of any form of personhood. Memories and stories take the place of the body in terms of remembering who the person was and what they were like. These exquisite coffins are by all means quite impressive, but many could argue that they are unnecessary. After 3-4 days of public display, they are lowered six feet under the ground and are never seen again. Culturally they still uphold values of social order and religion, but physically they play a minimal role in the end of life.

All things considered, would you want to be buried in a fantasy coffin, and if so…what would it be?

For more information and pictures, click here or watch this short clip.

References

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4496430

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/nov/24/paa-joe-ghana-fantasy-coffin-artist-casket-funeral

https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/14/africa/gallery/ghana-coffins-mpa/index.html

 

 

 

 

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Death of the Northern White Rhino

Posted on March 22, 2018 by | Leave a comment

This week, the last male northern white rhino, Sudan, finally died from age-related complications along with a newly developed infection on the back of his right leg. To prevent the complete death of the species, Sudan had been kept under the protection of armed guards at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. Conservationists expected his death, but regardless, his passing still shocked the world.

Though most news outlets have reported that Sudan died at the age of 45, most chose to omit the fact that he was euthanized. Would it be that the news agencies are trying to steer the public perception of Sudan’s death away from the conceptual “bad” death? The problem with this is that according to Michael C. Kearl, Sudan died according to the predetermined scripture. By definition, his passing should be considered good as it was an “on time” and those closest to him had felt the warning of his death. This serves to bring up the idea that his putting down might have been left out of major news stories due to the negative stigma associated with human euthanasia. The putting down of animals is something that has garnered near universal support over the past couple of decades, even receiving approval from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Though Sudan is not considered a human being, the status he had garnered before his death on social media and in the news granted him the title of essentially a celebrity. Therefore, due to the social stigma associated with assisted suicide and euthanasia for human beings, certain news outlets might have chosen to omit this information due to Sudan’s transcendence of status.

The dismay felt by the world is not solely directed at his death but the “death” of the northern white rhino species as a whole. The issue that arises with Sudan’s death is while it should serve as the species’ death warrant, the intervention of medical practices and technologies are complicating the process. Similar to an extent to the case of Terri Schiavo, developing technologies are making individuals question whether this truly means the end for the species. The Schindler’s experienced the same confusion when doctors provided information on unproven therapies and treatments that could restore brain function to their daughter. What the general public is currently dealing with is the initiative by scientists to attempt to take sex cells harvested from northern white rhinos and use them through the method of IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) to impregnate southern white rhino surrogates. Though the technology is experimental, it leaves the general public in a state of uncertainty similar to that of Terri Schiavo’s parents, unsure of whether to mourn the death of the species or not.

References:

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/northern-white-rhino-male-sudan-death-extinction-spd/

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-43468066

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/euthanasia-for-animals-what-can-it-teach-us-about-assisted-suicide-in-humans-10405840.html

 

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Making the Most of Life

Posted on March 20, 2018 by | 3 comments

We often talk about what it means to “truly live” or even more simply what it means to be considered “living.” This idea was one of the main points of the Terri Schiavo case and this idea came back to me in the form of a conversation.

A few weeks back, I was talking to one of my best friends about a book she had recently read called When Breath Becomes Air. The book is an autobiography written by Paul Kalanithi. Kalanithi was an outstanding medical student at Stanford who was in the residency stage in his path to becoming a neurosurgeon and all was well in his life. Then one day, his life came crashing down as he was diagnosed with terminal Stage 4 lung cancer. My friend explained to me that Kalanithi wrote the book to not only tell his story but more importantly to discuss how to think of and approach life when diagnosed as terminally ill. Kalanithi talked about how he truly “lived”when he realized he was dying. Although I haven’t read the book (yet), I did a good amount of research and surfing behind Paul’s story to get a better idea of his vision of life.

As the news of the death of Stephen Hawking shook the world, I came across an article on the web, and a particular line caught my attention. “Those who live in the shadow of death often live the most” was the opening line of one of the paragraphs. Although the article was about Stephen Hawking and his life, I immediately thought back to the conversation with my friend about Paul Kalanithi. This is the idea that he so very well embodied in his memoir, and I would like to share a few thoughts on how he did so.

It is obviously a far stretch to claim Paul took his situation “in stride”, but the way he talked about how to approach death with grace makes the reader reconsider what it means to be fully alive. Paul often talked about his experiences in residency, and repeatedly brought up that he didn’t want to be a doctor to “help save lives” as the cliché goes. For Paul, the biggest goal was to help people understand death and illness. Helping save someone’s life wasn’t worth it to Paul if it meant that patient was now bound to a life that he would not find worth living (being severely handicapped, for example). This was a bigger failure to Paul than the patient dying. We often set an ultimatum for those that are ill. We think they must be saved at all costs because in our minds; death is the worst possible scenario.

Kalanithi claims life isn’t about avoiding suffering, because everyone will die. There is not point in worrying about death, because as long as you aren’t dead, you are still living. I will definitely have a much better idea about Paul’s message when I get around to reading the book soon, but the article that I came across reminded me of the conversation with my friend and even further, the Terri Schiavo case. There is of course no one right way to approach death. But Kalanithi’s message is certainly one that can potentially alleviate stress and make this adventure that we call life a little more pleasant.

References:

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

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The Death of a Dog

Posted on March 19, 2018 by | 1 comment
Old black lab whose fur is beginning to grey

“Wise old man” by Shaun Hopkinson is licensed under CC by 2.0

In our society, it is common practice to euthanize dogs in old age either with or without chronic medical conditions. However, physician assisted suicide for human beings is controversial and only legal in some parts of the United States. Now, I understand that the comparison between the death of a dog and the death of a human may appear insensitive or tactless, but I think it is one that deserves attention. I frequently hear dog owners, myself included, say that they love their dog as if they were their own child. If this love is so intense and comparable to the love we give other humans, why do we, as a society, condone and even promote the euthanasia of dogs while we shudder at the idea of euthanizing humans?

Pet owners often decide to put a dog down because they are in apparent pain, or the family believes that they should not suffer any longer. The family makes this decision based on the observed quality of life, but they have no idea of the dog’s wishes. Dogs cannot speak for themselves or express their will, but humans make the decision to end their life for them. It is never an easy decision, but it is one that our society supports.

The euthanasia of humans is a much more divisive topic in our society. In recent years, physician assisted suicide has become legal in some states. The idea is that those with chronic conditions may choose to die with dignity. Yet, many regulations are in place, for example, the patient must request to die at least three times, twice verbally and once written, and the person requesting to die must be able to administer the drugs themselves.

These requirements are not necessary for euthanizing dogs. The consent of the dog is not obligatory, and the fatal concoction is administered by a veterinarian, not the dog. While it may seem silly to expect anything of that nature from a dog, I think in some situations it is also ludicrous to expect it from a chronically ill human. Quadriplegics with a poor quality of life and the desire to die are not eligible for physician assisted suicide despite their request because they would not be able to submit a written request nor administer the drugs themselves.

This post is by no means an extensive analysis of euthanasia nor is it an argument in favor of physician assisted suicide or one against the euthanasia of family pets. I simply found it to be an interesting perspective on the matter. An article from the New York Times, titled The Death of the Doctor’s Dog offers a more detailed account of the moral questions that arise when discussing the euthanasia of any living being.

 

References:

https://www.deathwithdignity.org/learn/death-with-dignity-acts/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/06/well/live/death-dying-doctors-dog-euthanasia.html

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The Death Penalty

Posted on March 18, 2018 by | 1 comment

Over spring break, a lot of articles surfaced concerning the trial of Nikolas Cruz, the mass shooter of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. One particular article featured in The New York Times caught my eye. The article was titled “Florida Will Seek Execution of Nikolas Cruz in Parkland Shooting Trial.” Court cases that aim for the death penalty continue to surprise me for a reason that may seem very morbid and inhumane; death is an escape from an eternal surrender of freedom. Furthermore, on a more economical note,  it costs more to execute someone than it does to give them life in jail without the possibility of parole. The main point of the art

-icle was to inform the public of the prosecutors’ overall goal in regard to Cruz vs. The State of Florida. This is a very controversial topic because we, as a society, are not in a position to play God, yet we still take                the decision upon ourselves to do so. Besides the obvious and logical fact that our nation is in dire need of stricter gun control, the discussion of how to deal with those who commit such atrocities rarely surfaces.  Our justice system will sentence the death penalty, when deemed justifiable, but is capital punishment ever justifiable?

In the article, the prosecutor stated that this, “certainly is the type of case the death penalty was designed for.” In all honestly, I have no idea what that means. When were we granted the right to play God? There is nothing to gain from the execution of a wretched individual. The only major benefit is the quality of life for the prisoner being executed, since they will not have to spend the rest of their life rotting in prison.

In the simplest of terms, death is the easy way out. When considering the options that are on the table for Nikolas Cruz, they are either life in prison without parole or the death penalty. Nikolas Cruz stole the lives of seventeen innocent people and, consequently, affected hundreds of others, so why put him to death? Time is a gift, but it can also be a punishment. Locking an individual in a small space, thereby stripping them of their freedom, has been shown to have detrimental and degradative psychological effects, not to mention, imprisonment will save taxpayer money.

 

Our nation is obsessed with taxes. When major elections approach, one of the first topics to emanate is taxes. In the majority of states, capital punishment, meaning lethal injection, costs more than it does to imprison someone. According to The Death Penalty Information Center, Florida would save about 51 million dollars a year if they instead sentenced prisoners on death row to life without the possibility of parole. There are currently 347 people on death rowin Florida and it costs an estimated 3.2 million dollars for each individual executed. There are a multitude of other things that money could be allocated to, such as better funding to schools, lowering rates of homelessness, or literally anything besides than killing more people.

 

References:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/13/us/nikolas-cruz-death-penalty.html

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty

https://dailytitan.com/2017/03/lethal-injections-best-option-death-penalty-formula-mixed-drugs-needs-switch-single-sedative/

https://gizmodo.com/how-lethal-injection-works-1458366020

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The Exploitation of Tragedy

Posted on March 9, 2018 by | 2 comments

The death of an individual, especially if they are close at heart, can spark a wave of both anger and sadness simultaneously. However, nothing enrages me more than scrolling through my Facebook or Instagram newsfeeds and seeing posts along the lines of “Like this post if you cared about Random Dead Person, Rest In Peace” or “Share this picture if you knew Random Dead Person, RIP”. This especially angers me if the person creating such a post did not even know the individual who had just passed away.

As an aside, let me be extremely clear that I am not suggesting that making announcements over social media that the passing of a person such as a family member is entirely wrong. In fact, it can be therapeutic to let friends and other relatives know that someone  close to you has died, so that they can comfort you. I have several relatives post on mediums such as Facebook that they have lost someone important in their lives, ranging from a husband, their kids, or even their beloved pets that they have had for so long; I know for a fact that seeing comments that share fond memories of interactions with these people or just messages of support can brighten a person’s day immensely. Furthermore, by posting photos of your loved ones, you can immortalize them in the digital world and cherish the happy times that you shared with these individuals. However, what I do not appreciate is when people use death to try calling attention to themselves.

If you really take a close look at these posts— exactly what are these people trying to achieve by “recognizing” that a person has just died by asking for “likes” or “shares”? It is not as though they are writing a thoughtful post filled with happy anecdotes of how much fun they had interacting with this person; rather, they are looking for attention and an acknowledgment of some sort for being so “empathetic”. If the poster in question had virtually no relation at all to the individual who had passed away, that makes the matter even worse because it is just sickening to see someone take advantage of an awful event like that.

Death is not something to be celebrated or used to garner attention. We can look back on the memories that we had with the recently departed and laugh and smile in nostalgia, but using a tragic event to lift one’s self up in public is just deplorable. Whatever empathy a poster is trying to show off by making such remarks over the Internet is absolutely insincere and should be rebuked by all who view such material.

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War Crimes, Mourning, and the Quest for Closure

“A double exposure including: a) current day scene From My Lai-Quang Ngai photo by Binh-Dang and b) American ‘Huey’ helicopters during My Lai Massacre on March 16,`968 in My Lai, South Vietnam.”

03/08/2018

For whatever reason reading Jared Afrookteh’s post, “How do we view death in fiction?” reminded me of a class I took a couple years ago called War Crimes and Genocide. I remembered being shocked by all of the atrocious crimes that have occurred throughout history and in the world. I struggled to wrap my head around the events. Massacre in My Lai, genocide in Bosnia, torture in Abu
Ghraib… It is all overwhelming and devastating to learn, as the details behind
each of the aforementioned events, and many more, showcase an unbelievable
amount of abuse and dehumanization that I would have never imagined.  And
I also felt a great amount of guilt for having no idea that any of these crimes
had ever been committed.

One of the most appalling war crimes that I learned about was American massacre in My Lai, Vietnam. That may have been the first time I had heard of Americans being the perpetrators committing a crime against humanity. I guess at the time I had always believed that Americans would never commit such atrocious crimes. How could a country representing
peace, freedom, and justice for all completely abandon their moral values and
massacre a community of innocent people? What concerns me the most amidst
growing knowledge of catastrophic death and violence is the fate of the
survivors. How do they reconcile their loss? Often times we see the
establishment of monuments, museums, and other memorabilia to commemorate the event that occurred and the losses people have had so their lives and experiences will never be forgot.

However, does this truly bring closure?

 

Communities and loved ones may be left without any knowledge of the identity of the offender. Or they may have issues with learning of what happened to the body, as it may be disfigured or missing, which ultimately leaves loved ones without a tangible memory of what they’ve lost. This may also disrupt
traditional burial rituals and require the loved ones of the dead to search for
answers in the hopes of obtaining some form of closure. Or if the perpetrator
is known, it would be ideal to receive a genuine apology or some form of
reparations for their loss, but unfortunately this does not always happen.

For the villagers in My Lai, American Lieutenant William Calley, the man known for leading the massacre in 1968, was convicted for the crime but his sentence was reduced from life in jail to three and a half years, and on top of it all, as
of today, he has failed to make a formal apology or pay reparations to the
survivors. In another case, the Rape of Nanking, government officials of Japan
chose to deny and ignore the fact that their soldiers, killed, raped, and
tortured thousands of Chinese citizens. Even with cries of frustration from
particularly female survivors, Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has been reluctant to
admit any fault and instead focuses on closing the chapter so that it can be
forgotten and future generations of Japan can no longer be connected to that
devastating piece of history.

I think this issue is very interesting but I still have limited knowledge on the specific practices that occur in response to mass death, but I’m looking forward to discussing this in class!

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ghosts-my-lai-180967497/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/14/shinzo-abe-japan-no-new-apology-second-world-war-anniversary-speech

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Posted on March 9, 2018 by in grief and mourning, mass death

Coco: How Pixar uses Mexican culture to talk to kids about death

Posted on March 9, 2018 by | 1 comment

Miguel and Hector duet in a scene from Coco

This past Friday night, my Disney-obsessed best friend dragged me to watch Coco with her at Harland Cinema. Okay, okay, you got me, she didn’t have to drag me; I totally wanted to go because I, too, am Disney-obsessed. Coco is about a boy named Miguel and his family in Mexico celebrating ‘Día de Muertos’ – day of the dead – which is the night when souls can cross over from the spirit world to visit their living relatives. In the movie, Miguel flips the script and is sent to the Land of the Dead while he’s still alive to learn about the value of family. This animated movie is intended for a young audience, so I was pleasantly surprised that, besides being visually stunning, it successfully presented some mature topics with nuance and wisdom. These intense themes range from spousal resentment to old age and dementia, but for class we’ll focus on death and the concept of staying connected with those that have left this world.

In the world depicted in Coco, a person’s soul lives on in the Land of the Dead after they die. Each year on Día de Muertos, a bridge is constructed between the spirit world and the living world. Souls whose families remember them fondly can cross over this bridge to see their descendants once again. If a soul is not remembered fondly, and therefore not pictured on anyone’s ‘ofrenda’ – a ritual altar where the living place offerings for their ancestors – then they are not allowed to cross the bridge. This was the case with the soul of Miguel’s great-great-grandfather Hector, who was said to have abandoned the family and was ripped out of the photo with his wife and now elderly daughter Coco. The only problem for Hector initially was that he missed out on seeing Coco each year, which was devastating for him. However, his true problem arose due to Coco’s failing memory; when the time comes that everyone who remembers a soul during his/her life has died, the soul suffers “the Final Death”, disappearing from the Land of the Dead forever.

I find this concept to be the most intriguing part of the movie. Mexican culture very clearly embraces death as a natural part of life, as indicated by its festival to reconnect with deceased loved ones. However, the Land of the Dead in the movie is vivacious and doesn’t feel very different from Miguel’s living world. Yet the presence of this ominous final death shows that even cultures which encourage acceptance of human mortality still have a fear of death. This stirs up the question about what it is we are actually afraid of: is it the fact that the souls disappear into the unknown after their Final Death? Many fears stem from the unknown, such as nyctophobia (fear of the dark), or xenophobia (fear of foreign people or situations). Such can be said about a fear of death. However, there is a discrete point at which the souls in Coco experience the Final Death, which is when there is nobody left in the living world who remembers them. This suggests that perhaps fear of Final Death really is about a societal terror of being forgotten. With the rise of social media has come an increase in the prevalence and desire to live in the public eye. For people who prioritize fame in life, surely being remembered after death is also of serious concern.

Regardless of what property of death is so scary, Coco does an excellent job of creating a platform for parents to talk about death with their kids in a more approachable way, and to introduce them to a culture which has a healthy relationship with mortality.

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