On death and dying

"End-of-Life Issues in the Terri Schiavo Case" taught by Roberta Cawthorn captured our attention in Seekers Sunday School Class Sunday at First Presbyterian Church of Shreveport. (Whether to remove Schiavo’s feed tube or not went to the Supreme Court that declined six times to hear the case, but Congress and President George W. Bush did involved.)

As part of the discussion, one member said, in essence, that to her dying just meant that you were going some place else.

The comment reminded me of one the late and much love artist Clyde Connell said about death:

"As for death, I don’t worry about it and I’m not afraid of it. I feel completely at home with natural cycles and death is obviously a part of that cycle.

"I also believe in a next step. I don’t know what it is, but I believe it’s there.

"I’ve told my children and friends not to mourn when I die. I’m just continuing on my journey, and they all know how much I love to travel." (From a story by David Connelly published in the Shreveport Journal.)

And this from John Denver in a letter to the mother of a fan who had died:
"...death is not an ending, but a symbol of movement along the path upon which we are all traveling. As it may be painful to lose contact with the physical aspect of one we love, the spirit can never be lost. We have been and always will be a part of each other." Signed: "Peace, John Denver."

What wonderful attitudes about death and dying.

As my mother used to say: "Death is a part of life."

Not a subject to be avoided nor dwelled upon, but part of the fabric of our lives.