The last words of Socrates were: "the hour of departure has arrived and we go our ways. I to die, and you to live. Which is better - only God knows." This phrase expressed the fear and anxiety with which humans have traditionally viewed the uncertainty of what follows. Whether it is good or bad, death has always played an important role on human cultures and it has strongly impacted the ways in which people live. In many societies, grief and mourning are the traditional emotions with which people embrace someone's death. In addition agony, anger and feelings of emptiness or sorrow often follow these feelings. As a result, ceremonies surrounding death, often reflect these emotions, making them somber and upsetting. Also death in our culture carries a set of false ideals, which often is abused resulting in negative results. Contrarily, I believe that it would be more beneficial for a society to celebrate a person's loss with feelings of joy, instead of sorrow. Nothing illustrat!

es a solution better if "americans" could change their perspective of death to be more like other cultures.

Some negative views associated to this concept of death happen in various cultures around the world. Ta

A good example of their disrespect is rooted in their burials. Although the corpses were buried in Mesopotamia, there was no attempt to preserve the bodies of the corpses. Also in the myth called "The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld," the fertility goddess visits "the land of no return," where the dead lived. She then threatens the doorkeeper to open the door saying, "If thou openest not that I may enter I will smash the door post and unhinge the gate. I will lead up the dead, that they may eat the living." In other words, she disrespects the dead (which she portrays as savage carnivores) to scare and threaten off the doorkeeper.

"As a goldsmith, taking a piece of gold, transforms it into another newer and more beautiful form, even so this self, casting off this body and dissolving its ignorance, makes for itself another newer and more beautiful form like that of the ancestors of the heavenly musicians, or the gos of Prajapati, of Brahma or of other creatures."

or care to the expenses they are comitting themselves to. This scenario of being taken advantage of happens often in funeral homes because the directors realize these families in pain have other things on their mind.

Mitford, Jessica. The American Way of Death Revisited. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1978.

or it has for the lives of my loved ones, I will always remember a saying from a movie (you might be familiar with) called Final Destination. This passage explains that "death is a way of bringing new life to a person." I find this saying to be true for I believe death pushes a person to reevaluate their own life, for they realize life is too short to end it on bad terms. Therefore they are motivated to start a new beginning and make the best out of life as they can.

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different ways than the Tlingits. For the Hindus, the deceased are everlasting but reincarnated into different forms until it obtained moksa, or spiritual and physical liberation (Colman, 34). A good example of this reincarnation can be found in ancient Hindu scriptures,

Colmon, Penny. Corpses, Coffins, and Crypts. New York: Henry Holt and Company Inc, 1997.

Similar to the people of Mesopotamia, is the "american" culture. Although we base our reasoning for why people die on opposing ideas, we also shun the concept of death. These pessimistic ways can range from many crude acts such as; using a persons death for personal gain, going against persons last will or testament to the falsehood of the media. Take for instance, the abuse of the funeral industry. As many of us know, loss of a loved one can be a difficu

Some common words found in the essay are:
Prajapati Brahma, Klein Psychology, Meaning Life, Ishtar Underworld, National Inquirer, DeYoung Memorial, Tlingits Hindus, America Tlingits, Hindu's They're, Final Destination, view death, one's grief, understand death cycle, funeral industry, people continue, believe dead, dead people, funeral director, cultures view, cultures view death, death cycle, american culture,
Approximate Word count = 1784
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)