Change in Attitudes Towards Death and Dying

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Attitudes and common perceptions towards death

From historic times, people have held a number of attitudes and perceptions towards death. Fear, anxiety, and avoidance of death related conversations are among the attitudes that people have towards death. Holmes states that since no one understands the events that take place after the death of an individual, the subject remains one of the feared and unwanted subjects among societies (29).

The mystery that surrounds the issue of death is one of the factors that contribute to the present attitudes that the society has towards death. Various religions, societies, and individuals have advanced a number of perceptions towards death. One of the common perceptions that people have towards death is transition from one life to another. Notably, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and traditional beliefs have various explanations that promote the common perception of transition.

Christians and Muslims believe that death is a process where individuals advance to another life. According to people, who profess the religions, death is a period when one changes and adopts a spirit form. The religions believe that individuals, who do wrong things while on earth become subjects of hardship, whereas those, who abide by the provisions of the holy Quran or the Bible enjoy a good life in the aftermath. Apparently, the religions encourage their followers to abide by the provisions of the holy books so that they can enjoy a good life after they transit from their present lives (Tottoli 127). It is important to explain that the provisions encourage people to do what is morally right, and thus, by following them, individuals minimise instances where they break government laws.

On the other hand, Buddhists and a number of traditional beliefs hold a similar perception but assert that people change shape after they die. The assertions by the beliefs is a clear expression of the common perception that indeed people think that after death there is a transit from one form to another. Gould compounds the transition by stating that Buddhist think that people change to cats or dogs after they die (57). According to the belief, those, who have their souls enlightened, enjoy life after they die, whereas those, who engaged in wrong activities, suffer in the aftermath. The statement by Gould implies that individuals take different shapes and encourages people to respect animals, as they may be ancestors, who lived in the past.

Change in American attitudes towards death and dying after the Second World War, nature of the changes, reasons why they occurred, and contemporary changes that may alter the way Americans understand death.

Before, the Second World War, Americans treated death and dying as intimate and sacred. The rates of death were minimal and subject to homesteads and neighborhoods. The minimal numbers of death were often associated with a range of rituals aimed at giving the death a befitting burial. However, the Second World War led to deaths of thousands of soldiers and civilians. According to Burt, 400,000 soldiers died during the Second World War, a figure that can only relate to the American civil war (51). The high number of people, who died during the period, changed the perspective of Americans towards death and dying.

Some of the changes that occasioned in relation to the American perception towards death espouse the nature of handling and treating death and dying individuals. The reasons that explain why the changes occurred include the mass deaths of individuals and the short time that their colleagues had to undertake the burial. Although the changes began in the battlefields, they took root in America after the war. Unlike in the past when people had ample time sending their loved ones off with a befitting burial, the numerous bodies of fallen soldiers compelled Americans to devise new ways of disposing the dead. Furthermore, conventional methods and procedures became minimal, an aspect that has continued all through the ages (Willbern 75). It is important to elucidate that during the Second World War the issue of death changed from a family or neighborhood event to a societal challenge. The change transpired because a number of families lost their relations during the period.

Some of the changes that I regularly witness at work and can influence the way that contemporary societies view death include the dynamic nature of individuals and the increased use of technology. While the changes may not be clear now, they will eventually alter the way Americans envisage the issue of death. Tottoli explains that the dynamic nature of the American people has led to the view that death is one of the events in life that is unavoidable (85). Moreover, increased use of technology has amplified the amount of information that people have concerning the issue. The implication of increased knowledge on the causes and prevention of death advanced the thinking of Americans towards death. Contemporary American societies are now aware and prepared unlike in the past when the subject of death was sacred.

How principles like self-determinism and individualism support the hospice movement in America, advantages and disadvantages of the hospice system, and sustainability of its role in the healthcare system.

Principles such as self-determinism and individualism support the hospice movement. The support that the principles provide emanate from their provisions, which champion for autonomy and individual rights. Since hospices deal with patients, who require advanced care and attention, they often form the best choice for dynamic individuals, who are constantly on the move. The reason that leads to a choice of a hospice emerges because they care and attend to the patient as the family members undertake their daily activities without interferences.

Self-determinism and individualism support independence and freedom of all without interferences. As a result, the provisions play an integral role in promoting the presence of the hospice systems in the United States. According to Corr, Corr, and Bordere, the guiding provisions of the principles include freedom from interferences and right to moral fulfillment, which form the major factors advanced by those supporting the development of hospices in the United States (225). Since individuals in the United States want to live an independent life free from interference, they support the existence of hospices because they care for the sick and elderly.

The hospice system of the United States has various advantages and disadvantages. Notably, the advantages and disadvantages form the basis under which individuals select a suitable hospice for their sick or old relatives. Some of the advantages associated with hospices include advanced attention and care of the subject individual. Since hospices have skilled employees, care and attention accorded is high end and professional. Furthermore, by enrolling a family member to the hospice system, one minimizes the challenges associated with medical expenses and anxiety that comes with caring for a sick or dying individual. Burt explains that people develop some scale of anxiety when they watch their loved ones die (87).

As such, hospices play an important role in minimizing the anxiety. Consequently, there are several disadvantages linked to hospices. While hospices provide care and attention to individuals, they limit their services to care and not treatment. It is fundamental to assert that hospices focus on helping a person progress and die peacefully. Therefore, by taking a loved one to a hospice, the individual receives limited medical attention and treatment as it is contrary to the services provided by hospices.

The dynamic and trendy lifestyle of the people in the United States is one that will catalyze a continued existence of hospices. Since majority of people in the United States have several responsibilities and very little time out of work, ill and old individuals do not receive the much-needed care at home, and thus, the need to have hospices. The implication of the lifestyles and responsibilities means that the roles of hospices become sustainable in the country. Therefore, the healthcare system in the country has to institute policies that support sustained hospice development. The need to institute policies that govern hospice operations stems from the increased need for their services from the United States citizens. Although a number of people opt for home based nurses, the services delivered by hospices outweigh those of a home based nurse. Therefore, the United States has to sustain the roles that the hospice facilities play in the health care systems.

The differences in approach among modern industrial societies and traditional animistic cultures

Notably, various differences distinguish how modern industrialized societies and traditional animistic cultures approach death. The differences emanate from the changes and advancements in various aspects of the society. Technology, education, religion, and liberty are some of the aspects that have dictated the difference in approaches to death among modern and traditional societies. The differences concern the rites and procedures followed during funerals, location or place of corpse disposal, and the process of grieving after the demise of a loved one.

Apparently, modern societies have a different approach to death as opposed to traditional animistic societies. The fact that modern societies have access to lots of information on aspects of death implies that the level of preparedness is high unlike during the period when animistic cultures thrived. In addition, while animistic cultures believed in organized and well-designed send off procedures filled with rites, modern societies are less likely to engage in such activities. In actual sense, aspects such as religion have dictated the procedures employed during funerals, and as such, few or very little rites materialize during the event. In the assertion of Corr, Corr, and Bordere, modern funerals have fewer procedures and rites unlike those performed in traditional or medieval times (53). The number of rites and practices undertaken during a funeral is one of the factors that differentiate modern approaches to death from traditional animistic cultures.

The sacred approach to death, which was primary during animistic period, is another factor that differentiates it with the present societies. While animistic societies practiced secrecy in matters relating to death, the modern society is liberal and share information about death in various platforms that include the social media. Moreover, unlike animistic societies, who believed that the death needed specific burial locations such as a homestead, modern societies bury their loved ones in public cemeteries. In the words of Holmes, during animistic period, burial of loved ones entailed a wise choice of location or site where disposal of the corpse would take place (62). The act of burying loved ones in public cemeteries is one of the factors that animistic cultures disapproved.

Why societies forget mass deaths quickly

Societies often forget mass deaths very quickly and soon afterwards, no one has a clear memory of the events that transpired. Various incidents in both the modern and past societies, which led to mass deaths, became history after they occurred. Corr, Corr, and Bordere elucidate that some of the reasons, which explain why mass deaths become history in both present and past societies, include the attitude that people have towards the event and government institutions (149). Fundamentally, in the advent of mass deaths governments put in place institutions that help the victims including societies to quickly heal and get over the challenge. Some of the past events that became history include the Three Kingdoms war in China and Mongol Conquest in Eurasia. In the modern society mass deaths, which include those that took place in France and Brussels are slowly forming part of our history.

Notably, the attitude that past societies had towards death is one of the factors that helped them forget the events of mass deaths quickly. On the other hand, institutions that help individuals heal quickly after mass deaths is a factor that helps modern industrialized societies forget mass deaths soon after the occur. When victims heal quickly, the events leading to mass deaths become history as they begin engaging in their daily activities. As opposed to past societies where individuals spoke very little about the issues of death, modern societies use the conversations to forget the event quickly (Gould 41). The use of related conversation contrasts with past societies, who avoided related conversation in the quest to recover quickly. By using related conversations or avoiding them, past and modern societies catalyzed the process of forgetting mass deaths.

Works Cited

Burt, Robert. Death Is That Man Taking Names: Intersections of American Medicine, Law, and Culture. Berkeley: The University of California Press, 2002. Print.

Corr, Charles, Donna Corr, and Tashel Bordere. Death & Dying, Life & Living. Belmont: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning, 2013. Print.

Gould, Laura. Cats Are Not Peas: A Calico History of Genetics. New York: Springer New York, 2012. Print.

Holmes, Rickie. The Mystery of Godliness—Revealed. California: Xulon Press, 2007. Print.

Tottoli, Roberto. Routledge Handbook of Islam in the West. New York: Routledge, 2014. Print.

Willbern, David. The American Popular Novel after World War II: A Study of 25 Best Sellers, 1947-2000. North Carolina: McFarland & Company Publishers, 2013. Print.

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Change in Attitudes Towards Death and Dying

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