{"id":2660,"date":"2015-04-01T13:38:16","date_gmt":"2015-04-01T19:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/incongruentelements\/?p=2660"},"modified":"2015-04-01T15:13:35","modified_gmt":"2015-04-01T21:13:35","slug":"sin-series-death-dying-an-inch-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/incongruentelements\/2015\/04\/01\/sin-series-death-dying-an-inch-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"SIN Series – Death: Dying an inch at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"sad-death-300x169-35513[1]\"<\/a>A while back, Jonathan Pierce at A Tippling Philosopher suggested\u00a0this series<\/a>\u00a0and I figured, “Why not? Writing about death can be fun and exciting.”<\/p>\n

I have to admit, I’ve considered the possibility of death quite a bit these past two years. Sure, cancer can highlight mortality, but mostly I’ve pondered it as I’ve watched those around me wrestle with issues concerning\u00a0the grim reaper. Mostly, I’m amazed at how slow death progresses… taking over an inch here, an inch there, until the inevitable happens.<\/p>\n

But lately\u00a0I’m haunted by Eva (names and places have been changed to protect the innocent).<\/p>\n

\u201cEva\u201d moved into \u201cSunset Town\u201d right after her seventieth birthday. She loved the assisted living facility. They cooked her meals, helped clean her apartment, drove her to doctor appointments, they lived up to their motto of \u201cShowing Christ\u2019s love in a safe environment.\u201d And love her, they did.<\/p>\n

She lived there fifteen years, they always cared for her in a first class fashion\u2026 as long as she could afford it.<\/p>\n

At age 85, Eva found herself without a dime and homeless.<\/p>\n

At that point, the fine folks at Sunset Town continued \u201cloving\u201d their residents but\u00a0Eva was cast out. She eventually found herself in a county facility for the elderly. Turns out the staff there, despite not proclaiming any particular religious bent, was able to care for her despite their reluctance to pull religion into the mix.<\/p>\n

So, what does this little story have to do with death?<\/p>\n

Everything.<\/p>\n

You see, I unfortunately got to witness Eva\u2019s death, one inch at a time.<\/p>\n

The first hit came when she couldn\u2019t handle living in her own home anymore. She had to sell her beloved farmstead. The inches she ceded towards her death that day hit hard. She cried leaving her familiar kitchen. A lifetime of memories were eclipsed in one afternoon as the auctioneer sold her possessions, strangers dug through the myriad of treasures she accumulated throughout the years, and a price point was placed on her memories, her mementos, her life. She lost a few more inches when they sold her house to the highest bidder.<\/p>\n

At first Eva liked Sunset Town. Family visited. Minister came weekly. She did what she could to create a family in her new \u201chome.\u201d But, as the years wore on, Eva\u2019s inches evolved into feet as friends moved on, family got busy, the minister visits became sporadic.<\/p>\n

More and more, Eva found herself alone. She made the best of it, busying herself with doctor visits, the activities program, until she slowly but surely rebuilt her social network.<\/p>\n

Finally, one day the head of Sunset Town visited Eva\u2019s apartment and informed her that her cash was running low. The home she\u2019d spent building for the last fifteen years was evicting her. Eva ceded many inches as she uprooted herself and was placed in the county facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I\u2019d live in Sunset Town until I moved into a nursing home,\u201d she told me, \u201cI don\u2019t understand how they could kick me out after I\u2019d lived there 15 years. I evidently gave them every cent I had. I thought they were Christian.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily the county facility was as very nice. The multi-cultural staff treated Eva with tremendous respect. The county appointed social worker helped her work through her sadness after being uprooted. A kind Activity Assistant filled in the gap when Eva\u2019s church friends (including the minister) no longer visited.<\/p>\n

However, when Eva felt abandoned by her particular version of a deity, nobody could help. Fact was, her lifelong church membership was no guarantee of any courtesies once she aged. \u201cThe bible says god will never leave me or forsake me,\u201d she\u2019d say, \u201cbut I feel alone, forgotten, and worthless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eva ceded her remaining inches while being tended to by a muslim nurse, a jehovah\u2019s witness aid, and an atheist orderly\u2026 not exactly the death team she envisioned when she moved into Sunset Town. But these folks demonstrated genuine human kindness.<\/p>\n

I suppose in the end, that\u2019s the best we can hope for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A while back, Jonathan Pierce at A Tippling Philosopher suggested\u00a0this series\u00a0and I figured, “Why not? Writing about death can be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":2661,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[27],"class_list":["post-2660","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-opinion","tag-my-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/incongruentelements\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2660","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/incongruentelements\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/incongruentelements\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/incongruentelements\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/incongruentelements\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/incongruentelements\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2660\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/incongruentelements\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/incongruentelements\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/incongruentelements\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/incongruentelements\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}