07.12.08
Musings on a Deep Subject
Most people don’t want to think about their last minutes on this earth. Some people have to think about the last moments of another person’s existence. This week, I received an e-mail from a missionary friend in South America. He told me that a friend of his had been very ill and she was in the hospital. He went to see her and he wanted to comfort her and pray with her. However, there was so much commotion in the room, he told her he would come back. He felt like hollering - “Don’t you understand that she is dying?” There was no peace to be found, and when he went back, he found that she had already wandered off “to the other side.”
In the old days, people were not shoved into an institution because they were sick or they were dying. The family cared for its own. Today, if anything “happens,” a person is shuffled off by ambulance, only to be treated with invasive and non-invasive tests and treatments. But, where are those of spiritual strength who could help to ease the mental suffering of medical ordeals? They are not to be found. We are left to be “numbers” while the family stays at a distance, or purposely keeps away.
Today, we are afraid of seeing someone die. Everything is so sanitized and neat and tidy when death occurs other than “home.” The undertaker whisks the body away, never to be seen again. Cremation is a cheap alternative, not that the results of passing on are inexpensive, these days.
What we have lost is the spiritual meaning when Death comes knocking. I have never, personally, been witness to another person’s demise. However, I envision that it could be a lot more meaningful without hospital personnel running around, trying to “save” a life. In some instances, a person has lived a long and full life and is tired and really, quite ready to “go.” Prolonging a life, in that instance, may seem like a moral imperative, yet, for the patient, it is not in their best interest.
Since none of us wants to leave life prematurely, it’s a tough question to ask, or to answer, but here goes? How would you prefer to live your last moments? Would you like loved ones present? Or, would you like to be alone? Would you like to hear silence or music? Would you like to be attended to by family, or the medical staff of a home or hospital? None of us can predict the future, and people sometimes die in very strange ways, like choking on a cornflake or piece of steak, having a fatal reaction to latex, or peanut butter, or being bitten by a bear or poisonous snake. There are so many agents that could possibly do us in, it’s a wonder we live as long as we do!
I guess the key to happiness is not to worry about such topics. However, from time to time, I ponder the spiritual sanctity of the final moments that all humans must face. I can only hope that I will have a caring friend, at that time, who will help me to consider eternity, and what my life may have meant. Now, back to more sunny matters.
Patricia Cummings
