First Thoughts on the Illness & Dying Unit

I think I have the same experiences with illness and dying that most people are confronted by, they have little experience with it until someone close in their family dies. Everyone who I know (including myself) that is confronted with someone who has an illness or is dead or soon to be dead the reaction is usually that of grief. This is only natural after all, we loss the mental and emotional connection we get through talking to that person, which is often the strongest way we connect with someone and aside from necrophiliacs we lose the physical connection. No one doubts the fact that loosing a loved one is emotionally painful but coming to terms with our own mortality and knowing that everything around us is temporary can give us insight and comfort in these times. To enjoy our times and take advantage of these times can give things more beauty as we know that maybe what we witnessed will always be there to be seen but ourselves will not be there to always see it. In my own family when people die we try to not approach the situation of it's awful s/he is gone, of coarse grieving will happen no matter what we try to view the death as rather a celebration of their life that we were lucky that they could have been there in our lives. This is the perspective I try to take since it avoids the most tear jerking, and I think its always best to have the most positive outlook and always see the glass half full even when it's usually empty.