“Remembrance of Death” Can Overcome “Death Obsession”

First Things ^ | 01-22-2016 | Wesley J. Smith

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I was once approached by a member of the Hemlock Society after I had delivered a speech opposing assisted suicide. She asked me, "Mr. Smith, how do you envision your death?"

I was a bit taken aback. Her whole approach seemed backwards to me. So, I replied, "Ma'am, I'm still trying to envision my life."

We in the West are often accused of having a "death-denying" culture. But I think the opposite is true. As my long-ago encounter with the Hemlock member illustrates, we are actually--and to an increasing degree--becoming a death-obsessed culture.

Death obsession is corroding our society's belief in the intrinsic value and inherent dignity of human life. Evidence of this cultural septicity is everywhere: in the rise of hedonistic escapism, in the violence of our popular entertainment, in the media's embrace of assisted suicide as the next great progressive cause.