Another ranty post, this time about death, language and ...

Yesterday one of my Facebook friends (who is a minister in a different denomination, in a different state) posted a status update speaking of how he never uses euphemisms to speak of death and dying, because using terms like 'passed away', or 'passed' or 'she was called home' etc imply a phobia of speaking of death.

Now, I can relate to this in some ways, and I tend, in most cases, to call a spade a spade (to use another euphemism) and use the words 'death', 'died', 'dying' etc. I am also a strong advocate of truth-telling at funerals (ie not pretending that the deceased was a saint in all things, and if there was conflict or difficult relationships that need to be healed, to name them, in a pastorally sensitive way, and not pretend that this wasn't the case).?

My friend later commented that the rationale for his pronouncement was that 'However, whilst I certainly agree that our society is not good at handling death, or grieving, I believe that there are some times when it's just not appropriate to be 'in-your-face' blunt in our language, when people might need some gentleness and TLC.

The ensuing comments on my friend's status basically teased out these ideas; touching on things like truth and 'telling it like it is', pastoral sensitivity etc. Whilst I didn't necessarily agree with all that was said, I was ok with this discussion... except for one comment (made by another minister, also from a different denomination to me).

Her comment was:

Source: http://theworldaccordingtocarox.blogspot.com/2012/11/another-ranty-post-this-time-about.html

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