Death

The subject of death has been a controversial topic since time immemorial. Nearly, all human beings are afraid of death, and there are some who even find it challenging to talk about death. Many people keep wondering what will happen when they are gone; many are afraid of thinking about the death of close people to them like family and friends. It is even more worrying to bear in mind that death separates a person from their daily activities and sends them to a place that no one has ever been there to narrate on what happens after death. However, as much as there are so many unknown things regarding death, it ought not to be something that people find it worrying (Bryant 4). People ought to understand the fact that death is a thing that has been there for a very long time. Also, death is there are it is unavoidable. Understanding this will help to accept death as part of an individual’s life and what is important is how well you spend your life while alive. Deducing from the story of Augustine on the death of a friend, it is evident that there are controversial opinions on how people ought to react and handle death. This argumentative essay brings different notions regarding death to try and show that death is normal and people should not be worried about death by drawing sentiments from Augustine’s experience of death and his views regarding death.

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In St. Augustine’s story, “death of a friend,” the friend of Augustine died. He was a close friend as he is even the one who convinced the friend to become a manichee. The friend becomes unconscious while ill and the family baptizes him. When he seemed to recover, Augustine went on joking to him regarding the baptism that he had received. The friend did not listen to the jokes and suddenly died. It was then that Augustine was overcome with grief and decided to run out of the town (Augustine, William, and Rouse 12).

Deducing from the scenario, it is clear that Augustine still did not view death to be a normal thing even though he had earlier experienced the death of his father. Death ought to be regarded as a normal thing that is part of life. If Augustine had taken death as a normal occurrence that is part of life, he would not have reacted to the different deaths in his life differently. He would have learned how to handle death whenever it occurs even among his closest people (Augustine, William, and Rouse 13). The confusion exhibited with the society that Augustine lives is still the same confusion and difference in notions that are still presented even within the contemporary society. In the world today, different cultures have different perceptions regarding death. While some perceive death as something good, others view death as a calamity.

On the other hand, there are those who assert that death is a subject that people should not discuss lest death befalls with them (Bryant 5). Despite all these contradictory opinions, it should be understood that death is normal since it is unavoidable. In St. Augustine’s story on the death of a friend, Augustine flees the town to escape the memories of his friend who has died. What Augustine does not understand is that death is normal (Augustine, William, and Rouse 13).  Even though death tends to worry everyone in the society, educational institutions ought to take the initiative of integrating death and dying classes into their educational systems.

It is a good thing to note that many schools have embraced teaching the subject of death in a dying class. However, it is also a sad thing to note that many students do not want to enroll in such classes on reasons that they do not see the reason of attending such classes and others are afraid of listening to the subject of death all the times that they will be undertaking the lessons in dying class. On the other hand, different students enroll in these courses for varying reasons known to them. On the other hand, some students enroll in these classes so that they may be able to fulfill a requirement of the degree that they are taking in the university while others enroll in dying classes to develop the training that they are carrying out in either medical or in other instances in the behavioral health field.

Also, some individual students are not taking a course that is related to medicine or behavioral health but still attends death and dying classes to satisfy their curiosity regarding death and dying. Furthermore, there are students who enroll in death and dying classes because they are still coping with the loss of their loved ones (Bryant 5).

From Augustine’s story, it is interesting to picture the context in which he talks about the reactions that he has regarding the death of his friend. He asserts that he is worthless without his friend but still loves the empty life that he is living more than his friend. His notions are very different from the conventional thinking of many people.

According to many people, the death of close people makes people see life as meaningless. However, Augustine perceives death differently. According to him, even though life lacks meaning when a person loses a friend, still life is worth living. This is how death ought to be viewed. Bryant (6) asserted that people ought to be concerned about living for the time that they are alive. By doing this, people will be in a position of making their inner-self free of the spiritual death that is brought about by the thinking and definitions that are within the society regarding people’s lives and death.

In St. Augustine’s story, in the course of his healing, he agrees that it is only through turning to God that people can be peaceful because everything comes from God (Augustine, William, and Rouse 13). Similarly, in Christianity, it is believed that it is through death that people get the life. Christian religious doctrines believe that Jesus, the son of God died so that people might get a life. Therefore, for Christians, they ought to consider that death is a normal thing and take it positively so that they might find peace when their loved one is gone. Failure to taking death positively will lead to loss of meaning in life when a loved one dies. In the story of Augustine, he also found it had to have peace following the demise of his friend. When he thought of turning to God as a solution, he still could not be convinced that he will find peace in God.

Even within the contemporary society, many people find themselves in very challenging situations as they do not know what they ought to do to find peace with the loss of a dear one. However, it is only through education that people can understand that death is a normal thing (Bryant 7).

In conclusion, Augustine’s notions of his friend’s death are very subtle, the reason as to why he is subtle in judgment is because he was not committed to God wholly and this is the more reason he does not understand death to be a normal thing (Augustine, William, and Rouse 14).

In the current society, understanding that death is a controversial subject within the society is fundamental. Students in careers that are engaged with seeing dead people or dealing families of the deceased such as medical and psychology students ought to be the first to accept that death is a normal thing and take the initiative to create the awareness.

The importance of building awareness regarding death lies with the fact that the future of end-of-life care within the community and the entire county and even the world is based on the change that the society will have regarding the culturally ingrained notions of denying death. The most important thing in this awareness creation is to educate young adults regarding the end of life. When young adults understand that death is a regular thing, there will be significant possibilities of change on how people view death.

Works Cited

Augustine, William Watts, and W H. D. Rouse. St. Augustine’s Confessions. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000. Print.

Bryant, Clifton D. Handbook of Death & Dying. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications, 2013. Print.