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Euphemisms for The End
What Do You Call Death?
Does it make a difference how you talk about dying?
Certainty feels good
I Googled “passed away,” and the top dictionary definition was clear: DIE. Simple enough, right? Yeah, but….
Passed away has always bugged me. In my not-so-humble opinion, it was a phrase that avoided the reality of death, a viewpoint carefully cultivated over my ministerial career.
Esoteric discussions about the meaning of existence stressed being objective about things. In the ivory towers, we decided on issues, then walked away feeling good about ourselves.
How sure can you be?
We seminary professors and students, like those everywhere, wanted to have the answers to everything. Sitting on the proverbial fence was wrong.
Out in the world, it was a different story. Meeting people of all kinds, with their many daily struggles, changed our approach.
I named the first church newsletter I created, The Search, with the subtitle, The answer is, there is no answer. Catchy, huh?
It is still a good title and subtitle even though the creator (me!) has changed.
