Chapter 15

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Lessons from Chapter 15
Chapter 15 “The path ahead, personal and social choices” explains death and how people perceive it. Death is inevitable. Some societies have beliefs that there is a good death. However the choices on how and when individual dies are taking shape in the current generation. In chapter 15, there are five main points that I have learned. These are; the meaning of death, the value of exploring death and dying, death in future, living with death and dying and principles of a good death.
Death is viewed as the end of what a human being achieves. Basically, when human beings are alive, they work hard to accomplish their set goals and objectives. Human beings have experienced death and survived it. They know that death is a threat and therefore brings the end of human achievements. Also, death may be a relief for life suffering (DeSpelder and Strickland 533). This is when a person is in a serious suffering, death to such a person will be of benefit as he or she is relieved from the problems.
Exploring death and dying is important as it awakens people to the valuableness of life and the association with other people (DeSpelder and Strickland 529). This gives much hope as people can recognize that the world always appears unpredictable. With the exploration of death and dying, people accept their mortality and finiteness. This also helps people resolve experiences of grief and loss.
Death in the future helps people understand how the social change will have an impact on rituals and ceremonies surrounding the dead (DeSpelder and Strickland 537).

Also, death in future will also help people understand how environmental changes may affect the way dead people are disposed of. With this in mind, innovations in social services may be important to support the dying and the bereaved.
Living with death and dying is another lesson in chapter 15 which explains how death affects many people once it strikes. Death is not only foreign to human beings but a foe that needs to be fought to the better end (DeSpelder and Strickland 542).
Principles of a good death apply to people when they understand that death is coming and have what they expect with them. Being able to maintain a reasonable control over what happens is a principle of a good death. Also, another principle is where an individual has a choice of where death occurs. Chapter 15, therefore, explains measures that can be taken to ensure that the adverse impact of death is not destructive.
Works Cited
DeSpelder, L. A., and A. L. Strickland. The last dance: Encountering death and dying. Mayfield Pub. Co, 1983.