Are you on course with death?

Is death a valid or useful lens to look at life? How often do  you catch yourself in the denial of death, especially your own death?

Over 30 years ago while taking my B.A. at University of Manitoba I took a course in the religion faculty on Death and Dying. My friends thought I was morbid and many asked how I could take such a depressing course. The truth of it was, my mother was sick at the time, I was afraid, and I was looking for help.

30 years have passed yet the course remains one of the most life enhancing experiences in my life. It was also a ton of hard work as we had to read 10 books on death and dying, write cogent one page reviews of each book, engage in a wide range of discussions about death, and in essence spend a university year focused on death while being 23 and so full of life!

The books ranged from the Denial of Death by Ernest Becker, Facing Deathby Robert E. Kavanaugh, and On Death and Dyingby Elisabeth Kubler-Ross.

This site is a tribute to what that course started 30 years ago.

If today was the last day: Would you die happy?

Photo Credit: University of Manitoba by http://flickr.com/photos/wildphotochase/2306344797/