Brandy Schillace — The Ritual We Refuse

My best friend’s mother, a breast cancer patient,

tried repeatedly to talk about the looming possibility of her own death

only to be told that she should not speak of it.

It is a strange irony:

the last thing we are supposed (or allowed) to do

when preparing to meet death is talk about death.

Can you imagine the inverse?

We would not plan for the birth of a child

without addressing the subject of labour.

Major events demand adequate preparation –

more than that, they require solemnity, significance.

These make up our cultural rituals,

and rituals have enormous power.

Brandy Schillace

Death’s Summer Coat