Reading Time: 4 minutes “The nurse put me on the phone. I told him his children loved him and all that. But before she hung up, I heard her say something else.”
Death and Dying
Posted inDeath & Dying
Will I go gentle?
Reading Time: 9 minutes OnlySky · Will I go gentle? | Dale McGowan If you haven’t visited The Death Clock, you really must. Enter your date of birth, height, weight and Body Mass Index, and the Death Clock spits out the day and date on which you’ll hear the galloping hooves of the pale horse. Mine is Tuesday, December […]
Posted inHealthcare
Slowing to listen at the end of life
Reading Time: 12 minutes Marcia sat up on the side of the bed, a hand on each knee, and braced herself as she leaned forward to open the space in her chest for more air. At 52, she was dying of ovarian cancer that had spread to her liver. The critical organ had failed, causing excess fluid to gather […]
Posted inDeath & Dying
The cruel arithmetic of a Highland graveyard
Reading Time: 4 minutes At the edge of the Nevis Forest in the Scottish Highlands, up on a hillock barely visible from my hike on the West Highland Way, I saw the rusting spikes of a very old iron fence. A cemetery. Had to be. I climbed up the hill and walked through the small gate into the untended […]
Posted inDeath & Dying
When Christianity becomes a death cult
Reading Time: 4 minutes The logic of Christianity leads to the disturbing conclusion that if heaven is better than this life, then death is a good and desirable outcome.
Posted inDeath & Dying
A prepaid funeral plan? Over my dead body!
Reading Time: 5 minutes This morning I did a double-take when I read the following sentence: “Despite amazing advances in medical science and technology, the mortality rate for human beings stands at a whopping 100 percent.” I had to read it twice before concluding that someone was having a laugh. A line like that could only be delivered by […]
Posted inDeath & Dying
I want to die like a dog
Reading Time: 3 minutes After my first nonreligious parenting book came out, the Minneapolis Star Tribune ran a brief profile on me. A few days later, I received a handwritten letter: Dear Dale,I’m sending these booklets to you so that you know God loves you. When you die, you don’t die like a dog. You will go on forever! I’m 74 & […]
Posted inGeneral
Commonwealth, II.XLII: The Democritean Dance
Reading Time: 2 minutes The Pacific Republic treats death with reverent simplicity, rather than capitalist ostentation or religious denial.
Posted inGeneral
The Strange Sad Story of Olive Heiligenthal
Reading Time: 6 minutes The only fatal error in religion is putting your beliefs to an unambiguous test.