TALKING DEATH BECOMES MORE IMPERATIVE AND USEFUL

Bernard Crettaz a Swiss sociologist came up with the idea of a Café Mortels in 2004. Jon Underwood in England discovered the idea in 2010 and began a web site for Death Café which has spread to over 30 countries.  In 2013 the Death-Positive movement was born in the Los Angeles area. Then in 2014 Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande became a best seller. Mortality seems to have become a vogue topic among the young, middle age people, and boomers.

Our modern science and medicine has delivered us a sweet and sour gift of health. Increasingly, we outlive our brain’s cognitive or body’s independent functions. As a result medicine complicates aging by often trading quality of life for longevity. They have brought us more years in our lives but not necessarily more life in our continuing years. As a result, the way we die has fundamentally changed. Increasingly, people at all ages now want to talk about choices to be made at the end of life. And this heightened awareness of mortality has helped many people put a greater focus into the present moment. In addition, people at all ages find the discussion of our mortality intensifies the desire to make the most of the time they have left.

ps. if you can email me a reply it will be easier for me...  kimeldorf@me.com