Death cafe write-up: August 2017
Although our August Death Café took place some 3 weeks or so ago, I can still remember all the details so vividly; those who attended, the hesitant smiles on new attendees faces, the hurried flurry of someone arriving late, the welcome interruption of wait-staff bringing food and drink to the table. As always, not only did people came from diverse backgrounds, they all brought with them their unique life experiences, perspectives and world-views which revealed themselves in comments, ponderings, musings and shared reflections.
Comments and reflections about death and dying were rich and varied. “You don’t die until the last person on earth dies” was a comment which made us all pause for a moment, and which, for me, was something I’ve been thinking about since. In that particular context, what does it mean to die? “We are molecules and we go back to the earth.” What does that mean? Are we just that, molecules? Is that our purpose? And what then of the perspective that life can be seen as a means to an end, the same as death can? Is there life after death, and if so, what would that be like? “I’m an agnostic.” What is life like for someone who is “an agnostic”? What is life like for someone who believes that death is not the end?
At one moment, I sat back and simply listened to the sharing of experiences and the interplay of ideas and thought to myself, this is exactly what Death Café does; it normalises death because it provides a forum for people to have death-related conversations.
