Someone is ill, we are afraid to call it by its real name, termially ill. we go visit that patient. what are you supposed to say? Do you discuss his condition? Do you pretend there is nothing wrong with him? Do you pretend everything is going to be alright?
You assume a posture that would intimate the patient that his condition is well known to you. Then you can talk about anything that would interest the listener. You can ask is there something you can do for him/her.
If the person is very close to you, then you can even discuss one's attitude to death. Remember Jackie Kennedy, knowing that she was to die in a few months, invited her close friends one by one and spent quality time with them. That is graciousness on the part of the dying. What is graceful for the ones who are moving more slowly towards the inevitable?
We have been told about elaborate funeral arrangements made by a person on his deathbed. Vanity!
yraman
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