One woman’s take on death

I’m deviating slightly with this post as I’m not writing about a cemetery but about an attitude to death and dying. All of us have our own take on death. My mother often says that there are worse things than death and I’m with her there.

When I go, I’d prefer a sudden departure to a drawn-out one but I’ll get what I’m given. Death is something that will come to all of us. Some of us will fear it. Others might welcome it. More still might never have thought about it until it’s been and gone. Some of us will be ready to go. Others will have to be dragged away from this life kicking and screaming. As certain as it is, death is also very individual.

Emily Levine was an American humorist, writer, actress and public speaker who lectured on science and the human condition. She was born in October 1944 in Nashville, TN and died, aged 74, in Berkely, CA. She’s a woman I’d love to have had to dinner.

Emily spoke in Budapest back in 2014 and I’m sad that I missed her, that I didn’t know her then. She spoke so eloquently on change, onĀ  reality, on what it all means. The 18 minutes it takes to watch her Budapest talk will be 18 minutes well spent.

I received this short video-clip on WhatsApp earlier today and I’ve since sent it on to others. The reactions have varied in intensity and warmth. As I said, death is very individual. I’m posting it here for my reference, so I don’t forget. And I thought you might like it, too.

 

And if you enjoyed that, check out Emily’s Universe – the yoy of dying.

@ 2024 Mary Murphy