Why Does North American Culture Shy Away from Death?

Why Does North American Culture Shy Away from Death? How Is Shying Away from Death Hurting Us? Students Name Institutional Affiliation Death is a sensitive topic among many cultures in the world, and many are afraid of talking about it as a result of the consequences that it could have to the people (Parkes, Laungani & Young, 2015). Death is known to cause a lot of grief to people, and without the right guidance, it can be difficult for individuals to accept that they have lost a loved one and, in turn, be able to get through it (Bradley, Fedlman & Johansson, 2012). However, some regions such as Christianity has a way of dealing with grief because they believe in the resurrection. In addition, this is not a guarantee that they are comfortable losing their loved ones. This paper will address the idea of North America being shy to death and the manner in which such shyness has been a hurting factor in our culture. North Americans are shy about the topic of death because an individual's death is connected with a lot of things such as the loss of their identity and family. Even person plays an essential role in their families and society, and therefore, their death would leave a loophole that no one can replace. For instance, when a child loses a parent, they can only be taken care of by a guardian and would never have another parent to show the same love as they used to receive from their parents. As well, the death of a person leaves a huge loophole in the society which will result in his remembrance by the people that they used to interact with. The identity of an individual is also cleared from the face of the earth once they have passed away and there is no other human being that can replace that identity. Therefore, this explains the reason as to why North Americans shy away from the topic of death because it has a lot of realities that are difficult to get into terms with. It is not easy for an individual to believe that they have lost a person and would never see them again. Hence, North Americans prefer to ignore the topic of death and not willing to prepare for it (Hanning, 2017). Despite the fact that every human is bound to die, this remains an ignored topic among North Americans. The fact that North Americans are not willing to talk about death has resulted to some individuals falling into depression after the loss of a loved one. The failure to talk about death is a way to avoid a tragedy that is eventually bound to happen. Therefore, their lack of preparedness results to a lot of grief which in some cases, leads to depression among the affected individuals. In addition, the depression makes them unproductive in society for the period that they have not accepted the loss of a loved one. Such unproductiveness can be avoided by making the culture of discussing death as a part of the curriculum (Capron & Lock, 1995). This way, individuals will learn more about death hence making it easy for them to deal with grief once they have lost a loved one. Limited grief would, in turn, the chances of being depressed. The sooner that people end the grief period, the more productive they become in society. Hence, death will not have hurt the society at large. Through the discussion of death, people will be made aware that once...