As hard as it was for me to do this project, I felt that getting through with this process now, will help me and my family in the future. The most important thing in my life is my family, and thinking about the death of a member is something that causes grief even when it isn’t necessary. The most difficult thing of all is accepting that this person has passed away as well as moving on from this stage in life. I was surprised how open my parents were to talking about such a sensitive topic (for me) and they were actually very thorough and helpful in telling me their plans and how they would like to be treated. During this process we began to talk about options and who should make decisions for whom in case of any emergencies. As we moved through the 5 wishes booklet, I learned many more things about my parents and how religion factors into their lives than I would have normally; by normally I mean if I had never taken this class or bothered to ask them what they want before they die. Sitting with my parents and talking about such a sensitive topic is difficult because they are the people who have provided for me since birth. Because of this I have formed a theory that maybe children are supposed to “shepherd” their parents through this process in the same way they shepherd me into this world. The question I am left with is if I really want to help my parents through this process when the time comes as well as I can. Obviously my answer is yes, so why do some people get so caught up in certain practices that they seem to forget what their actual goal is? How can we change this process so that the normal is to simply care for our dead in the way that they cared for us when we were young? Below I have attached two photos of the 5 wishes booklet with some of my mother’s information filled out.
* For safety purposes, some information has been whited-out
Dear Felipe,
ReplyDeleteI found it fascinating that this class project turned out to strongly contribute to your immediate life style. It was also efficient to use the 5 wishes booklet when interviewing your parents. one of your last thought "why do some people get so caught up in certain practices that they seem to forget what their actual goal is?" is important because you are attempting to gain more depth with in the realms of our classroom discourse. i think that your question about what specifically causes us to get so distracted from our core goals/beliefs should be part of our exploration about the nightmarish practices most of us give into. it was a pleasure to read your blog nice work!