HW 19

I spoke with my mother on the topic of illness and dying. Her views basically coincided with mine, not surprising. She first shared that she thinks death is seen as something almost "unnatural" in our society and for this reason we are so uncomfortable around it. She then tried to think of more to say on how we deal with illness and dying on a personal level however found that she did not have much to say on the topic, and "did not really know what she thought". She concurred that society does not teach a "right" way to deal with the ill and dying and therefore we always feel so uncomfortable in situation that involve people who are ill/dying.

She then talked about the correlation between the treatment of the ill and dying with their socio-economic level. She made the point that the working class are much more susceptible to catching diseases and illnesses because the living and working conditions of the working class are many times under par and the same precautions to prevent illness that are available to those with money are not very common in the working class. She also made the point that those who are rich have the funds to help them beat diseases and buy medicine to cure them, or at least keep them alive, and even if they do die it is more likely that they will die a more peaceful death then someone who is poor.

It is pretty obvious that her views have affected how I approach this topic a great amount. I completely agree with her. people who have a lot of money can deal with illness and dying easier on a physical level, however on a personal level and in terms of how we deal with ill and dying family or friends I think it is equally uncomfortable for the rich and poor. I am completely confused in trying to answer why we are so uncomfortable around the ill. I can come up with reasons on why I would be uncomfortable, but I can't quite put my finger on that weird feeling you get when you go to visit someone who is sick in the hospital. One thing my mom said made a big impression on me, she said "if you are someone poor, especially an immigrant, you are seen as something expendable." This made such a big impression on me because not only is it terrible but it is true. If someone does not have the money to pay for hospital bills, or a heart transplant, or medication for a fatal illness, then they are pretty much tossed aside and unless they can get the money together they are left to die. No valued human life should be treated in that manner, and therefore it is obvious that the lives of normal working class people are not valued to the extent any human life should be valued. This is not to say that all the doctors and nurses are terrible people but rather the system in which everything operates does not accomodate the needs of everybody and therefore some people have to be excluded, unfortunately this ends up being those who don't have enough money to pay...the majority.