Reply #17: Does death have meaing? [View All]

[cynatnite]

I spent years working in the medical field. I've worked in hospitals, ERs and as a Paramedic.

Whenever someone would die, we'd clean them up, put their belongings in a plastic bag and make sure they were presentable for family members wanting to say their goodbyes. Afterwards the funeral homes would come after them in majority of cases.

We'd wrap them up in the sheet, put them on the gurney and they are zipped up in the bag accompanying it.

I can't recall an instance where it didn't have a profound impact on me in the many times we've had to do this. It didn't matter the age, the impact was the same.

I would ask myself 'Is this it?'

Maybe this goes to the whole meaning of life question, but I would think that everything we did before dying seemed almost pointless because when we die, it's just over. Nothing. That's the scariest part of the whole death issue for me.

I know it's all about how we live that counts. Part of the reason I left the medical field is that death was just too damn scary and I was growing more and more cynical about life as a result.

I'm one of those people who want something to grab onto when life ends.