You are a college student, 19 years old, hanging out with friends, walking around town, horsing around, and just back from Thanksgiving break. Someone sees a parked electric commuter train, and somehow it seems like climbing on top would be a good idea. Like climbing a mountain, seeing the world from above, changing perspectives… You’ve done stranger things than this before. On an impulse, you climb the ladder at the back of the train. As you stand up, you notice the wires that run overhead to power the train. Suddenly, 10,000 volts enters your left arm and blows out through your feet.
In 1990, BJ Miller began a relationship with death that would lead him to become a triple amputee. As he talks about his journey, you can see the suffering in his eyes. You can see the passion and courage that led him to become a hospice and palliative care physician.
He asks the question: “What really matter at the end of life?”
At the Zen Hospice Project, when someone dies and the body is being wheeled out, there is a ritual to pause in the garden. Anyone can come out and give a story or prayer or song. Nurses, doctors, staff, family, friends… they pause for a few moments. Flower petals are sprinkled on the body. And humanity is placed back in the process of dying.
How do we remove unnecessary suffering from the process of dying for both the patient and the caregivers? How can we make our medical systems more humane? How do we talk about a graceful end of life? How can we honor life in the conversation about death and dying?
Watch TED Talk by BJ Miller, What Really Matters at the End of Life
Resources
- A Beginner’s Guide to the End: Practical Advice for Living Life and Facing Death by BJ Miller and Shoshana Berger
