Reflections on Good Friday & Easter

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/holiday-cheat-sheet-easter/

Christians are the only major religious people to have a symbol of death represent them.  Comments on the holiday?  What it means to you and/or what you think it means to others?  Questions you have? Make at least one post, comment on 1-2 of your classmates' posts.


I thought you might be interested in this post of mine from two years ago:

Good Morning, Students,

I thought you might want to know that I witnessed a death early this morning, while I was on-shift with hospice in the 11th hour program.  I took the 3am-8am shift because I didn't have work today and knew I could sleep during the day if necessary.

The nurse came in maybe around 4am?  I explained who I was, said I was on-shift until 8am.  She said, I don't think you'll be here that long.  And she was right.  The death was very peaceful -- breathing slowed and then finally stopped. No "death rattle," nothing dramatic, just stopped.  I got the nursing aid to confirm the death, which she did, and then the nurse came back from wherever she had been working.

I didn't pay attention to the time when I thought she had stopped breathing.  I wanted confirmation from a professional that what seemed to have happened really did happen.  I was a tiny bit surprised when the nurse asked me what time she died, which was needed for the official paperwork. I checked the time I called in to hospice and then subtracted a few minutes.  I think I was responsible for the official time of death.  Interesting, eh?  But, obviously, who else would know better than the person who was there when the death happened?

Time of death.  We mark it by the hour and the minute, but I'm not sure it is really that precise.  Breathing stops, so the heart must follow soon after.  But the body is still warm.  If a spirit or soul leaves, when does that happen?  It makes the most sense to me -- and I'm not even certain that we have spirits or even individual souls/spirits -- that the soul/psyche/anima/spirit/energy just kind of fades away.  I think that's how much? most? dying must be -- just falling asleep, losing connection, fading away.  Not the dramatic, fighting against death kind of dying, but the "normal," end-of-a-reasonably-long-life kind of dying.  The energy source just runs out.

It feels significant to be with someone who is actively dying, but, at least for me, it doesn't feel mystical.  It feels more . . . ."natural"?   Not trivial by any means, but not dramatic.  And not scary, either.  Don't be scared about this kind of dying.  Other, horrible accident, rushed-to-the-ER dying probably is very scary (we can ask Melissa to weigh in here), but not all dying is out of a movie.  This is just companionship, a walking-with, holding a hand or just touching the person's arm or forehead.  And then your work is done and there is a different kind of work to do by others -- washing and dressing the body, moving the body to the funeral home or wherever.  Don't be scared of a body, either, in this kind of natural dying.  Skin color can look different -- but someone who is alive and very sick also might have an "unnatural" skin color.  Being with someone you don't know is moving, meaningful, significant and that moves me to tears, but it isn't sad the way the death of someone you know, or know well, is sad, wrenching, dizzying, and/or disorienting.

The facility was Catholic, but I'm not sure if this patient was.  But how meaningful to die or be with someone dying on Good Friday, right?

It was comforting to leave in the light, to come home to furry, playful cats and have breakfast with my husband.  I'm looking forward to seeing friends and family this weekend and a bright, beautiful, joyous Easter.

Peace.