Talking About…You Know…

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Since the horrific events of last Friday in Aurora, Colorado, people in the US have been forced to talk about something they don’t like to talk about: death.

We talk about hundreds of topics every day, some boring, some exciting, and occasionally something controversial or uncomfortable: sex, drugs, bodily functions, violence, politics.

As a society, though, we have a hard time talking about something every single one of us will experience.

So our conversations over the weekend focused on the motivation of the shooter and the gun control debate. We did our best to come up with a logical explanation for what happened. The truth is much more complex, and unlikely to satisfy anyone.

What we ignored – or tried to – was imagining what it would be like to be in that movie theater or love someone who was.

Later this week, in a guest post by Kristie West, you’ll be introduced to the concept of the Death Café. A movement that began in Switzerland and spread to England, it offers a safe, casual place for people to come together and explore how they feel about death.

I’ll be co-hosting a Death Café in Chicago in September (details coming soon). It’s a very new concept for the U.S., and this one will focus on men grieving their friends.

In the meantime, think about how willing you are to talk about…you know…