Who needs a history of death, you may ask? You’re here one
minute, gone the next. Everybody knows that. It’s natural.
Actually, that’s an interesting attitude. In Western culture,
death isn’t natural any more. Social science defines natural
death as “one that doesn’t matter”. In the wild, 90% of animals
never make it to maturity. Animals sniff death, and move on.
Survival of the herd is tantamount. In our society, death
matters greatly, for two reasons. First of all, it reminds us of
the fact that we, too, will physically die at some point. This
is not a popular notion! Most people will tell you they believe
in an afterlife. They believe this afterlife is pleasant. But
then they’ll say they are afraid to die. Are they confused? No.
They are afraid of the dying PROCESS, not of BEING dead. It is
the thought of pain, loss of control and relying on machines
that makes people cringe. And yet millions of dollars are spent
developing those very machines and drugs to put death off! In
one year, Americans spend enough