These funeral news stories offer ways to talk about death and dying. These news items were compiled by Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist and The Doyenne of Death®.
Washington Post: Even on his birthday, a black funeral director can’t escape covid deaths
As the pandemic enters its third year, the nation is edging toward normalcy. Except funeral directors still grapple with an enormous wave of deaths. Read the full story.
Washington Post: How I learned to talk about death and dying
This opinion piece by Steven Petrow starts out:
The Guardian: A forensic pathologist on the legacy of lockdown: I look at death every day – let’s change the way we talk about it
This piece by Richard Shepard is part of The Guardian’s series “Two Years On: The legacy of lockdown.” It provides a perspective of a forensic pathologist from the U.K. on the pandemic and death. Among his observations:
I know that I am unusual in having had such a longstanding personal insight into death and the fundamentally precarious nature of our lives. Many of us have never seen a dead body, even of a close relative. In our westernised, urban society, the tradition of paying your respects to the body in an open coffin in the parlour is now rare. This offered the opportunity to recognise the normality of death: to look it in the face; to consider your responses; to remember your own impermanence.
By the start of this century, it seemed to me that death had become a subject generally to be avoided, glossed over, obfuscated and (if at all possible) simply ignored, at least until one was faced with it personally. Now, the lack of this experience often means it feels overwhelming.
Washington Post: The death spiral of an American family
Let’s help our loved ones discuss death and plan ahead. Just as talking about sex won’t make you pregnant, talking about funerals won’t make you dead. Your family will benefit from the conversation.