Last semester in my sociology class, we had to do an experiment where we "died" for 30 minutes and then thought about societal aspects of death, and how society influences our own ideologies concerning life and death.

That being said, what are your thoughts on the subject of society and death? (You can even do the experiment if you so chose)

My girlfriend's cousin had a man land on her car after he jumped off a freeway overpass.

Just thought I'd throw that out there while we were on the subject of suicide. Killing yourself in private is selfish enough, but throwing yourself into traffic on the freeway? That's even worse.

I had never really thought about how selfish suicide was until the peeps at the hospital opened my eyes to it. I had never really made the connection that what my aunt did to her self, and how it affected me, that that's how it would affect everyone else if i commited...

the most recent experience with death I've had was when my football coach died this summer. He was a volunteer firefighter who died with eight other firefighters when the roof of the building they were extinguishing collapsed.

for some reason i felt very emotional about this, even though he was just a coach and i only knew him for one season. This is strange because when my grandmother died, whom i was very close with, i did not feel much emotion at all, im still trying to figure out why

A girl in my class had an uncle who died. He was pretty young, maybe late twenties, and she was really shocked when he died. I think he was more like her older brother than anything. Anyway, I went to her house after the funeral and I just remember the way she didn't know what to do, she didn't know what to say. My friends tell me it wasn't that bad as far as funerals go, but I just sat there the whole time thinking that one day I would be in her place, and eventually, everyone I love is going to die. And that's easier to digest when you think of someone older, but what about like my little sisters? They're going to die too. It's just too much to comprehend.

I don't think being religious really helps to explain it. Even if you believe you have a basic idea of what's going to happen, I don't think anything could prepare you for death. If it's not in this world, then we've probably seen nothing like it and probably cannot imagine it. It is easier for me to accept that it's a transition then for death to just be an abrupt end, though.

Some nights, I lay awake, contemplating life and death, wondering what happens when we die, and if we have cognizance there-on-after. Some days, when it gets bad, and the emotions are weird for no apparent reason, I wish I could go back to when I was little and had no idea about this inexplicable place that few in our society dare to discuss.

In my sociology class, on the day that we discussed our society's views on life and death, there were two aspects of sorts: There was the somber attitude we all held toward death, the fear of the unknown creeping into our voices, a sullen despair stretching over the room; and then there was the joy and happiness that only a one year old (our professor's daughter) can bring via curiosity and a not-really-seeming-to-worry-about-anything attitude that we lose as we slowly become older and jaded. It was a weird mood to say the least, and I left not knowing how I was feeling.

This past summer, one of the students who had been in the class with me, in the small group I was in on the day that we discussed death, died suddenly. Even though I didn't know her well, it was weird to think that I would never see her around campus again. Every death hits you like a shock, and when it's too close for comfort, you find yourself not knowing the left from the right, the up from the down, the best way and the worst way. All you can see is whatever your mind decides you will see. There is pain, there is shock, there is hope despair heaven and hell, everything at once and so much more than you think you can ever handle.

Our society does not do a good job of discussing this. It has, over the years, developed an attitude of "McDonald's Grief," which basically lets it say: "Funeral's Over, get back to work." It does not allow for basic human emotions, and it's teaching of the lack of comprehension to those who have never faced death is astonishing. To have lost someone close and in four months be told that it's time to move on is not a good means to an end; yet, it's the reality.

Flowers die, the outline of the coffin disappears, and memories and pictures fade, but the grief never really ends. It crops up unexpectedly at the weirdest of times, and sometimes, it seems as if fate is taunting us, yet society refuses to accept it, saying: "You've moved on. You're fine." when you're very far from fine and nothing said nor done can replace an emptiness that aches from time to time.

It's hard in today's day and age to lose a close friend, considering the impact sites like myspace and facebook have on teenagers and young adults. Though the person is gone, a part of them remains in blogs and social networking sites. Sometimes the sites are helpful, sometimes hurtful, but either way, they lead to a morbid curiosity of others, turning the person into a sideshow freak to who everyone wants to know the story behind.

Why is this? Is it a human instinct, or a suppression of society's refusal to accept young death, or something else? I honestly don't know.

My aunt killed herself when i was in fourth grade, it really hit me. I didn't really know death before that, and when that happened, i realized that humans aren't immortal...

When my uncle died last year it hit everyone really hard. He was my dad's only brother. I remember seeing my dad's reaction. I was there when they told him over the phone. He just got all pale and still like he had been frozen. He didn't know how to react. All he wanted to do was see his brother again. He was in the hospital for severe pnemonia, but we had no idea how severe it was. He died of a heart attack, the second one in the same day. The doctors didn't try to bring him out of it.

Most of my family is dead, but I was removed from it until Del died. It was just like he was gone, you know? There should have been something to replace him, but there wasn't. It didn't seem real; it felt like someone was playing a sick joke on us and he was still alright. He would walk into the funeral with a laugh and that smile with his huge pepsi mug in his hand. He'd survey us in that uncannily way he did like he read you and knew your evil but still loved you despite it. He was so young, barely in his thirties. He should have lived for so many more years. I never cried when someone I knew died, but seeing my dad lose all of his light like that, I really lost it for a while.

I'm writing this, and I thought I didn't have any emotion left in me, thought I was as far reserved from death as I could be, but I can hardly see the computer screen due to the tears. Del was, a great man and an awesome brother to my dad and I still can't accept that he's gone, still see his face in random strangers that I meet. I have to look twice to make sure it's not him, like he just took a vacation.



...Aside from the "moments of silence" and feeling sorry for strangers dying, how does death affect you? Even the strangers I suppose. Everyone who dies has someone who loved them, or knew them, someone who birthed them, someone who raised them. How does that affect those people? How does it affect you?

The circumstances are unnatural, but the actual dying part is still natural. It just sucks more.

And that's always been the same. Prehistoric humans were more likely to get their throats ripped out by a wild animal than die peacefully in their sleep.

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That seems like a...pointless experiment. I don't really get how that does anything. You can think about death and society without laying on the floor for half of an hour.

I think the point is basically to get a person focused and not distracted so that they can think about it.

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I personally think death is perfectly natural,

What do you think about death where the people die in unnatural ways?

That seems like a...pointless experiment. I don't really get how that does anything. You can think about death and society without laying on the floor for half of an hour.

I personally think death is perfectly natural, and I therefore find it odd how taboo it seems to be in society, even to the point where it's considered rude to say someone died. You have to say they're "gone" or that they "passed away" or "moved on." Euphemisms don't change anything. If a person died, they died. It's perfectly natural.

But on the other hand, I can understand it. Humans are social creatures, so when someone we are close to dies, we take it hard. That sort of thing propagates into society as a whole, so death becomes something to be mourned.

I'm having a hard time organizing my thoughts tonight, so that's all I've got.

You do what it says. You "die" for 30 minutes (I.e. lie down) and think about the societal influence on your ideas of death.

Yes, I was wondering about that too.

What all did the experiment entail?

I think I'm going to try that experiment and then come back and comment on it. This is an interesting topic.