Attitudes toward death and dying

Death and dying has always been an interesting topic to understand and interpret. Each person has his own vision of death and the attitude towards it. However, society as a main influencer has a huge impact on people's perception of death. The attitudes of society towards death have changed over time. Fear has always been one of the most common attitudes towards death. However, today's society has developed many other attitudes.

1. Attitudes towards death change over a period of a person's life.

When a child is born he or she does not understand what it means death. The concept of death (it is inevitable, all living things die and we will die some day) should be developed to include death and have an attitude about him. When people just begin to understand death trying to disagree with it and believe that they can resist. As the person grows and the concept of death has already developed the death becomes a natural thing and considered totally different. People do not try to discuss the meaning of death.

A number of scholars examined the theme of death.

a) Sigmund Freud has recognized that people have difficulty with people dying.

b) Abram Rosenblatt found that when people remember their mortality react more harshly toward moral transgressors and become more well disposed towards those who defend their values.

c) Thomas Aquinas said that people are afraid of death, not only when you feel his presence, but even when they think about it.

The ability to understand the reality of death and realize its impact on us, the ability to discuss our fears about death helps to fully live our lives.

2. American society is going to deny the reality of death. This is why people always get confused with questions of death. In the Middle Ages, people in the western world was approaching death in the most natural way than today. Technology has separated the West from the fundamentals of their biological existence that led to the reality of death is obscured (Foos-Graber, 1989, p. 6).

Recently, the theme of death was raised in a large U.S. role was played by the media that covers all the "dead important." facts have been reported not only death but also the emotional side was raised generally. Another thing that makes one think of death and fear is the emergence of HIV / AIDS.

The only way to show the dead people is through television. Many have no real experience dealing with the death of close relative or a loved one. So when it happens people do not know how to deal with. Another aspect that the person perceived the effects of death is his religious belief or disbelief. Different religions view death differently. People of different professions also view death differently. A medical worker may view death as a professional failure, while, for example, an artist wants us emotionally and may even be inspired to dedicate something to the person who died. Another thing that effects the perception and attitudes toward death are the circumstances of death. There would be a completely different position of "good death" (when an older person dies) and a death of a teenager in a car accident.

Our society now views the death of a child as more traumatic than the death of an adult. This because it is rare in the United States to die young. It could be argued that while the social birth often precedes physical birth, this is reversed with the elderly, their status decreases with age. Similarly, the lethal disease also suffer from 'social death', where others tend more to go. 'There are many ways in which people can approach their own and others' death, but nobody chooses their approach independently of the others' (Mulhall, 1996).

To fully live our lives we must live our lives as if we knew we only had a few days of life. Aquinas describes the fear of death people making the statement, "Man (woman) prevent death, not only when he (or she) feels his presence, but he (she) thinks," (Choron , 1964, p. 71).