Death for dummies, pt 1: Death positive movement
October is the spooky season and an excellent time for practicing memento mori. I’ll be sharing a death education feature each week this month. See the full series here.
Part 1: Death positive movement
First up: learn about the death positive movement from mortician and educator Caitlin Doughty. The big idea is that “by hiding death and dying behind closed doors we do more harm than good to our society.” (Bonus: Doughty is legit funny, and thank goodness because this stuff gets heavy.)
Doughty is also founder of the Order of the Good Death, which outlines 8 death positive tenets:
1. I believe that by hiding death and dying behind closed doors we do more harm than good to our society.
2. I believe that the culture of silence around death should be broken through discussion, gatherings, art, innovation, and scholarship.
3. I believe that talking about and engaging with my inevitable death is not morbid, but displays a natural curiosity about the human condition.
4. I believe that the dead body is not dangerous, and that everyone should be empowered (should they wish to be) to be involved in care for their own dead.
5. I believe that the laws that govern death, dying and end-of-life care should ensure that a person’s wishes are honored, regardless of sexual, gender, racial or religious identity.
6. I believe that my death should be handled in a way that does not do great harm to the environment.
7. I believe that my family and friends should know my end-of-life wishes, and that I should have the necessary paperwork to back-up those wishes.
8. I believe that my open, honest advocacy around death can make a difference, and can change culture.
GIF by @jjjjjohn.