Toughest Question Yet

[LuisDantas]

One needn't lie.

I consider intentional delusion even worse.

 

[Curious George]

I consider intentional delusion even worse.

Redirection is hardly worse.

 

[LuisDantas]

Redirection is hardly worse.

Tell me more about that redirection, please.

 

[LuisDantas]

How to explain death to a dying child?

It may be difficult, particularly if other people close to the child insist on presenting mythological conceptions as literal truth.

Say, a toddler,

"People exist for a certain time, they get old, and they die at some point. It may be sad, but it does not have to be."

preteen,

"It may be tough to accept mortality, but there is nothing to do about that. We may learn instead to celebrate life while it exists and to be grateful for what we can attain while we have the chance."

and a teenager;

Same as above.

obviously the three groups will differ in their capacity to take in information and how it's explained.

Obviously, saying it'll be lights out forever isn't going to provide the comfort of the theist's lie

I don't know about that. Mortality is a gift, not a disease.

that you get a vacation unending at some theme park in the sky. Thoughts?

The taboo against mortality is not an inherent, necessary reality. It is possible and desirable to get rid of it.

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

I would describe the beauty of the process - that exists regardless the being who is passing/dying. Because there certainly is a beauty to be seen there, after death. The transition isn't a "spiritual" one by the conventional meaning of the word - but the process of again becoming the stuff of the Earth, and propagating new life is beautiful in and of itself. We may not think the processes involved to be very "pretty" - the breakdown of tissues, being "eaten" by insects, bacteria and fungus and any other members of the clean-up crews of the Earth - but the overall process, and the symbolic return to an elemental state certainly contains a rich story - and it's all true.

 

[Noa]

I would make it as simple as possible. Not try to make it seem beautiful because that is too subjective — it can come across exactly like a religious person talking about an afterlife to the one grieving. Simple, to the point, and make sure they know you are available for them to vent to or get a hug from.

 

[Milton Platt]

Watching a little girl in your family battle life-threatening illness makes your mind go to "unholy," awful places. She's fine now, thank science and so many human hands that worked to save her.

So that's what fuels my question: How to explain death to a dying child? Say, a toddler, preteen, and a teenager; obviously the three groups will differ in their capacity to take in information and how it's explained. Obviously, saying it'll be lights out forever isn't going to provide the comfort of the theist's lie that you get a vacation unending at some theme park in the sky. Thoughts?

Not an easy thing to do and I hope I am never in that position. Is it necessary to try and explain it???