“With Q-tips and cotton I cleaned out Elena’s nose, ears, and mouth—a deeply unpleasant task. In the last throes of life, basic hygiene is often ignored. This is reasonable, but reason does not make the aftermath any less abhorrent. In… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Dead people look very, very dead. It is difficult to grasp what that means, since it’s unlikely that any of us will stumble across… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“The most salacious stories—bones ground in a metal blender or torture-spike eye caps—had the power to disrupt people’s polite complacency about death. Rather than… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“We do not (and will not) have the resources to properly care for our increasing elderly population, yet we insist on medical intervention to… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“He explained that he talks about death "all the time" with his friends. They ask each other, "Hey, what you want when you die?"… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Many children and grandchildren of immigrants, have, like Sarah, found themselves severed from their family’s cultural rituals. The funeral system in the United States… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“I have come to believe that the merits of a death custom are not based on mathematics (e.g., 36.7 percent a "barbarous act"), but… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“It was death that the public was being cheated out of by the funeral industry, not money. The realistic interaction with death and the… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Exposing a young child to the realities of love and death is far less dangerous than exposing them to the lie of the happy… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Rather than let author and environmentalist Edward Abbey be buried in a traditional cemetery, his friends stole his body, wrapped it in a sleeping… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“The ICU was not the thrill ride I had expected. Turns out, they never called the high school student in from the reception desk… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Death should be known. Known as a difficult mental, physical, and emotional process, respected and feared for what it is.” — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
“Untreated, a dead person’s face looks horrific, at least by our very narrow cultural expectations. Their droopy, open eyes cloud over in a vacant… — Caitlin Doughty Copy Share Image
