Interview And Death :: essays research papers

"Everyday life recognisems unbelievably minuscule when confront with the prospects of death and dying." These are the terminology of Dr. David Avery. David is thirty years old, unmarried, a successful doctor, and has recently been confronted with the knowledge that he is suffering from a terminal family of acute leukemia. The living room in which Dr. Avery and I sit in his Monterey home is beautifully decorated with portraits of angels. On nearly every rampart these images of ethereal beauty give one a sense of rubber eraser and calm. It is ironic that these ominous creatures should watch over this home which is covered in a cloud of impending death.The only dimension that leads one to think David is the adult male in the photographs surrounding us, are the piercing green look that now look through me. He is frail, gaunt, and as he sits cluster in a blanket, I see a shadow of the man I am now engaged to marry. A once strong, handsome, and acrobatic man, he now weigh s close to 100 pounds, his appetite having fallen victim to rigorous treatments of chemotherapy. David speaks slowly, at times obviously in great pain, a side effect from drugs which are a last ditch safari toward a miracle. He composes himself and explains, "No one can ever real know what the feeling of death is like until they actually feel it for themselves." Generally, words such as afraid, daunting, confusion, hopelessness, and sorrow spring to mind. However, David elaborates, "the knowledge that one is in the process of dying is surreal. Everyone knows they are going to die but no one ever believes it." He tells me of the conscious realization that death is a good deal a part of life as birth yet is in all unprepared for in our culture. If society was aware that death could consume us at any moment, we would do things much differently. Were so consumed with physicalism and status that we lose sight of the important things like family, love, and our belief in God. He explains that we have lost a sense of common courtesy, decency, and the tonality ingredient to a meaningful life, the development of relationships.After having gained the conscious intuition that his life is coming to an end, it seems that David has received an element of peace with the world and sufferance of the inevitable. He clarifies, "Petty concerns and worries have been replaced with an overwhelming need to help others see the light at the end of the tunnel.