Homework #21b: Comments

For Ben: I liked that you made a lot of connections in your post, but maybe you could've elaborated a little more. For instance, did it seem to help your mother's friend feel more positive when you avoided the subject of death? Or maybe, why was it so spectacular to you that Beth had her 13 year old son help her? I can imagine why, but it would be interesting to hear about it too. Otherwise I thought your post was really interesting considering the fact that you seemed to be able to understand Beth's motives through your own personal experience.

For Devin: "Good relationships create harmony in the world, and I am certain that for Beth the atmosphere of harmony that she created with the people at the hospital made life more pleasant for everyone and took away some of the stress of a very stressful time. " I thought this was nicely written as you make it a general statement that is not only applicable in Beth's case. I think a lot of people tend to overlook the importance of relationships that they might not consider significant. 
The last paragraph I also found really interesting. I never knew that people had these types of hallucinations, but I think they're almost comforting, like you said as people have an "awareness of their own death." Also the idea of "some new part of the world not yet visited" as if death is simply a parallel universe.
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From Devin:
I was really impressed with the connection you made from your own experience with your dad to Beth's treatment of all those who were helping her husband in the hospital. Without judging your father (we all have our impatient moments), the fact that you felt so badly for the waitress and could imagine I think that if he had suddenly started choking she might not have performed the Heimlich Maneuver with much gusto. Hospital workers are paid to help patients but they are obviously going to perform their jobs with more good will when they are treated with respect, and even more than respect with friendship. Your mother's story about the poor man who died alone was really interesting because of your point that maybe it is easier to die if you don't have anyone to live for. It's true that a dying person would naturally feel terrible about leaving people who are dependent on them. On the other hand I think for many people death is scary because whether you have people or not to share your life death is still scary because it is unknown. Obviously you’re an excellent writer and this is an excellent blog post. I would like to emphasize the magnitude of your last line “When does death stop being the enemy…and become the natural idea.” Death has been my greatest enemy for as long as I can remember, and I think it will take an awful lot for me to picture it as “the most natural idea,” but I hope I can. In fact, ideally I hope I can think of it as a great adventure when my time comes (but I wouldn’t put any money on it.)

From Ben:  I love the depth of thought that you put into this homework. For instance, when you said  "Without relationships, maybe you would treat death as an old friend, ready to finally take  you away. We seem to only fear death because of fear of what we’ll miss." That statement  really got me thinking, and was more insightful than anything I could have thought of.  I also really liked the way that you represented many of your ideas. You asked the reader  a lot of questions, a technique that for me, adds more meaning to what you're saying and  certainly captures my attention more than just ordinary statements. Great Job!