Drops of Water

When you do not realize that you are one with the river, or one with the universe you have fear. Whether it is separated into drops or not, water is water. Our life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact, we have no fear of death any more and we have no difficulty in our life. 1 When I was told that I had been assigned a person named Yoshiko Meyers to visit, the questions began. What do you talk about with someone who is dying? Would they be interested in small talk about the weather outside their room? Does the news hold any importance for them? Would they like to talk about their religious beliefs? But what if they have none? Would they want to talk about their feelings? And if they wanted to talk about death, what could I say? I was a hospice volunteer in Boston, a young man on my way to graduate school to become a psychologist. I thought that I was supposed to talk with Yoshiko about dying, and while I reassured myself that I was ready, I knew that I was not. I had worked in emergency rooms, operating rooms, rehabilitation units, and nursing homes. I had seen illness and death. In the hospital I had seen people torn apart by cars and each other. I had seen people gasp their last breaths. I had wheeled dead bodies and body parts into the morgue. I had carried stillborn infants in my arms. And yet, I was full of anxiety. I was well aware that Yoshiko was Japanese, and that was why she was assigned to me. Yet I did not know what that meant for her or for me. Was there any special way of dying that I was supposed to understand? I associated death with Buddhism, be

Political science · Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism