On Wednesday afternoon in the Library, I attended my first ever Death Café superbly facilitated by two wonderful people (nurse and doctor) from the Nightingale Hospice. There were tears, there was laughter, there was wisdom and there were silences. But most of all, there was great humanity. It was a two hour conversation that could have gone on much longer. It was very life affirming, which might surprise many people. I hope that people come along on Saturday to the Good Endings Fair (a very different style of event but with a similar focus) to have some more affirming and humane discussions.
It was all about having the conversations that we sometimes avoid. Indeed we often avoid them. I was left pondering on many issues. I had one thought in particular: is our biggest fear of talking about death to do with worrying about being embarrassed to be seen to do or say the 'wrong' thing? I could write lots more on that, but one thing I know for sure: any death is disruptive and leaves those who remain in uncharted waters. Having conversations about these matters beforehand can, at least, remove some of that chaos.
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