Death and Dying: Before and After Stages of death and dying by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and William Worden

Essay by LittleSaraUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, July 2008

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Each new day begins with a sunrise. It brings to earth a new light that has never been seen before. The new light starts small and gradually reaches its peak in the vast sky. It nourishes the land, provides warmth and comfort, and inspires epic tales. As the day ages the light slowly sinks behind the horizon leaving behind brilliant splashes of color as if to reflect upon its accomplishment, but the pallet of colors will quickly fade to black as the light leaves the sky to go to places unknown. Even though the day was bright and created wonder it must give way to the tranquil, mysterious, and cool night.

Just as the dawn must give to the night each birth must yield to an eventual death. The night, like death, holds a sense mystery and tranquility for some. To others it invokes all the horrors found in the scariest nightmares.

While man may find ways to prolong the inevitable, each must yield to the waning light and go into that which he may have no knowledge of prior to the journey. It is a journey he will make alone. He will be stripped of all his earthly possession including his body. Only his soul will be allowed to pass into the dusk; the time of night. My friends, he must die and yet you must live on. As with every story, death too, has more than one perspective. The lone warrior who must take the solitary journey and the spectators watching the eternal sunset both have their story about the same event, but each story is unique.

The dying and their family do not have to face the uncertainty and often fearful process alone however. Organizations such as RMH Hospice Care can help both the dying and their...