--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> Man, there's nothing like watching your mother fade
> away from
> Alzheimer's to make you think the prolongation of
> life can be a
> horrible thing.
WS: Yeah, this is one aspect one does NOT experience when living far away from one's kin. Most of my relatives, uncles, aunts, etc. passed when I was far away on this side of the pond. But my experience of that was quite abstract, in the form of a message about something that happened "out there" - almost like the news of an accident in some remote part of the world.
Only when someone's death physically affects one's daily life and routines, when the absence of someone is physically present, almost like Heidegger's Angst, right before one's eyes - it becomes a real emotion. And it does not really matter that much whether that someone is a relative, a neighbor, or a pet. In that way, the loss of a cat can paradoxically cause more grief that the death of a relative far far away. Strange, isn't it?
In any case, thank you, and Carl, for responding.
Wojtek
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