"I am a hospice chaplain. I visit people who are dying -- in their homes, in hospitals, in nursing homes. [...] What do people who are sick and dying talk about with the chaplain? [...] Mostly, they talk about their families: about their mothers and fathers, their sons and daughters. They talk about the love they felt, and the love they gave. Often they talk about love they did not receive, or the love they did not know how to offer, the love they withheld, or maybe never felt for the ones they should have loved unconditionally. They talk about how they learned what love is, and what it is not. And sometimes, when they are actively dying, fluid gurgling in their throats, they reach their hands out to things I cannot see and they call out to their parents: Mama, Daddy, Mother."Read the rest, heartwrenching stuff including Kerry's discussion of her learning experiences and personal faith beliefs. I'm not of her creed but I honor her humanity and admire her goodness. In any case, I personally think dying and specifically death due to aging are the ultimate genetic disease -- a devilish DNA defect we all inherit from ancestors who were never naturally selected for longevity, nevermind immortality. Maybe with enough investment in life sciences and biotechnology we can end this scourge?
S42003-024–06037-4–1.Pdf
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