Two Different Responses to Two Different Deaths

One of my best friends died by suicide in 2006 at the age of twenty-nine. Ten years later, my mom died of ovarian cancer at the age of seventy-three. They both battled their respective illnesses — my friend’s an illness of the mind and my mother’s an illness of the body — for short years before their deaths. Neither of them emerged victorious, and this was devastating on both counts but for different reasons. My mom wanted to live but couldn’t. My friend could have lived but didn’t want to. We mourn when someone dies from a prolonged physical illness, but we view death as a merciful end to their suffering. We regard them as a champion of sorts — as someone who drew the short straw through no fault of their own and fought valiantly against a disease they never asked for and didn’t deserve. Sometimes we even rejoice when death comes because their life is no longer one worth living. We don’t want to watch the people we love languish in a fog of agony. <a href="https://medium.com/age-of-empathy/two-different-responses-to-two-different-deaths-1086caa147a5">Read More</a>