In reading Chapter 1 of Death, Society and Human Experience by Robert J. Kastenbaum, I understand why thinking about death can spark so many other thoughts, questions and ideas about living. I see myself thinking about my own life and personal experiences. "As We Think About Death" got my attention by explaining how some women including girls as young as 11 years old, have chosen extremely painful deaths. Instead of living enslaved to men that they did not want to marry, some of these women set themselves on fire. This type of death was hard for me to read about. I thought about the time when I was about 11 years old. I had everything I wanted and no worries. My parents took good care of me and my only job was to do good in school. It made me feel a little more thankful for my life.
Doing Inventory #1, "Your Knowledge Base" was interesting as well. I learned that there are about 2 million deaths in the United States each year. I thought there were only about 500,000 deaths per year. Seeing "2 million" deaths in one year really opened my eyes.
Inventory #2 asked my personal feelings or beliefs on subjects that made me really think about my position. For example, one question asked if I believe taking another person's life is: a. Never justified, b. Justified in defense of your own life, or c. Justified when that personal has committed a terrible crime. My initial response was a. Never justified. Then I thought about being justified if it were in defense of my own life or in defense of one of my kids. Being a parent really opens your views in many different aspects. Finally I looked at the last option and realized maybe I could justify that one as well. I have seen many cases on the news of parents being interviewed after one of their kids had been found murdered or raped and murdered. Being a parent, I can almost see how the rage could drive one parent to hunt down their child's murderer. As you can see, I spent a lot of time on this one question.
Inventory #3 was just as interesting. This section asked fill in the blank questions with my experiences with death. I was amazed at how many experiences I have had in my life. Also, I had not thought about many of them in quite a long time. Finally Inventory #4 was more clear cut for me to answer. When I started to read this chapter, my uncle was in the hospital being treated for cancer. By the time I reached this section, my uncle had passed away at age 67. Answering some of these questions and having a death in my family at the same time has really made me aware of the importance of this subject.
