Throughout my 17 years of life, I've gone through a couple of damaging losses. My uncle, Manny when I was just five, and my dog, Raven when I was 11. Amongst those major losses, I've heard of a few deaths that occurred with my more distant relatives, to go along with the losses, my entire family almost, has gone through a health scare. My uncle, was diagnosed with diabetes recently and my grandmother had a breast cancer scare.
Speaking entirely on my experiences, I believe that illness and dying in society is a pattern that people have learned to follow. I believe this pattern starts off with the initial shock and pain of a loss/diagnoses, followed by the realization of what has to change around the situation. After the changes have been put in to place, I have observed that people tend to continue their mourning and reflect back on the situation, and than once the mourning and shock period is over (However long it might be) the ones affected by the loss/diagnoses, continues on with their life. I am a great example of this pattern. When my dog Raven died, I had a long period of pain, and mourning, after a few months I than had to realize the changes around me that would take place, the realization that no dog will greet me at the door, the improved cleanliness of the house, etc. After that, the changes were put in to affect, and over time I continued life uninterrupted.
Although I've always had my own views on death/illness, I was always swayed slightly by both society and my family. Society has always shown me that dying should be a celebration of the accomplishments and the past of the person who passed while they were alive. I still up to this day find that to be ignorant. Why should someone be celebrated when they die, but not when they're alive? Does death make them a better person? Why does it take the worst case scenarios of death and illness to celebrate ones life? The news especially makes announcements of celebrities or important figures in the world, passing on and than usually plays a tribute or a montage of the persons past accomplishments. Society makes a passing almost a time for celebration and respect. My family almost taught me the opposite. I was told by my grandmother and my aunt as a child that; "They're in a better place now", "Don't worry about it, just keep moving on.". It seemed that they wanted me to acknowledge the death but not to celebrate it, but to put it in the past and continue on. Society's view and my family's views on the topics of dying/illness have helped give me my interpretation of the topics as something to understand, respect and acknowledge, but not to have as a distraction or an obstacle in continuing my life.
In general, what I've always found more interesting than people getting sick and dying, is the infinite opportunities and chances for death and illness to strike around every single person
lives every single day. A simple walk to the corner store has infinite risks of death/illness, the walk down the stairs can result in a trip that leads to a head injury, if you manage to make it down the stairs alive, what about the hundreds of murders that occur daily in your neighborhood? Once you avoid the risks of getting attacked by a criminal, what about the actual groceries you get from the store? Who are you to know if the produce you've just brought doesn't have fatal bacteria on them? Now, lets not even talk about the small street you have to cross on the way back home. This very small scale example, produces tons of opportunities for accidents to occur, yet most people don't acknowledge this fact, no one chooses to live their lives worried about every time they walk down the street, or take a bath, or even play there favorite deadly sport. From what I've noticed around me, people "act" oblivious to the real world around them that is surrounded with death and illness. The main idea I have on illness and dying is that, the only reason people react in such a negative and hurt way to illnesses and deaths, is because we put ourselves in a world where nothing will go wrong, until it goes wrong.
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