Culture and Death Systems

Culture plays an important part in the death system of our world. The death in each culture is different from each other. The culture of the Chinese is a lot different from that of an African American and the rest of this multicultural society, we live in. In each culture the death system is present whether we know it or not, and it consists of five components.

1. People
2. Places
3. Time
4. Objects
5. Symbols

These five components performs seven functions:
1. Warnings and Predictions
2.  Prevention
3.  Care of the Dying
4.  Disposing of the Dead
5.  Social Consolidation
6.  Making Sense of Death
7.  Killing

Since we all belong and contribute to "Systems". The word system is all part of our daily workbook. We are members of a Country's Political System. We are also part of the Health Care System. No matter our circumstances we are part of a system.

These components and functions gives us a way of understanding society and or culture, but our role within that society cultural system, when faced with death in its self are in various forms.

What is a death system Robert Kastenbaum (1998) describes it as the interpersonal, sociophysical and symbolic network, through which an individuals relationship to mortality is mediated by his or her culture.

Let us take a look at our death system and who or what it is comprised off, in the tables you will see names and people, or even things that may have been left out, not by mistake but for you to think of who, or what you think should be included.

Table1

Systems          Who are they                                         Role they play                

People        Funeral Directors,Morgue Attendants       First to come to mind
                   Cemetery Workers, Clergy                      All members of any death
                                                                                   system.
                  Citizens                                                     Core members
                  Florists, Lawyers                                       Continuous  players
                  Copy Writers,Real Estate Brokers
                  Developers and Construction Firms,and
                   Insurance Brokers.
                                                                                                                                   

Places         Cemeteries, Crematoriums,          Plays a lasting Social Political
                   and Funeral Homes.                    or Spiritual power simple by
                                                                     chance.
                   Battlefields                                  National and Historical
                                                                      treasures
                   Haunted  Houses
                                                                                                                                 

Times       Remembrance Day, The Eleventh            National Mourning for those
                Hour of the Eleventh day of the                who died in the War
                Eleventh Month

                Saints and Martyrs day. In                       Religious affiliation of
                Mexico, the day of  the                            Christmas  Jewish People
                Dead.                                                      or Shinto.
                Birthday,Wedding Anniversary, Date
               of Death (of love ones) Christmas,
                Easter and Thanksgiving.

                                                                                                                            
Objects          The Hearse, Headstone, Coffin or Casket
                                                                                                                             
Symbols     Cigarettes                                          Referred to as Coffin nails
                  Automobile or Aircraft                       Flying Coffin  
                  Black arm bands for men Black         Signaled their Status as
                  or Purple dresses for women              Mourners.

WARNING AND PREVENTION

We have all come across some kind of warning or prediction of death, either by intuition or by your gut feeling.  These feelings or what ever we call them are based on the following:

a. Folk Custom
b. Science
c. Religion
d. Personal Revelation

We all know that warnings can be  either:
a. Accurate
b. Imaginary
c. false
d. Exaggerated

As Individuals living in a Society, where skeptics tends to be all around us we have the choice to either:
a. Respond
b. Ignore the warning

For us to navigate through, this warning system, meaning, prioritizing and assigning value to the warning it must be taken seriously.

The following are some warnings:

Table 2
                                                                                                                          
Kind of Warning
                                                                                                                          

Weather Report                  Storm, Hurricane and Tornado
Small Craft                         Given the population close to
                                           major waterways.
                                                                                                                            
Ecological and                     Environmental hazards and galactic catastrophe
Predictions of pollution        earthquake, tidal waves, volcanic eruptions, meteor
                                           showers and infectious diseases.
                                                                                                                             
Psychics                              Use for entertainment purposes or for personal use
                                                                                                                             

What we think and how we response to these warning and predictions depends on our belief in:

a.  How accurate is the warning?
b.  How close are we to the event?
c.  What time would it happen?

PREVENTION SYSTEM

Physicians and Workers .....  First line of defense is our war on death.
Research Scientists  ...........  Fight to keep us alive with different drugs.
Police and Firefighters   ...... Recruit individuals willing to face danger of 
                                              eminent death.
Transportation   ....  Highway crews reduce the chance of accident and death, by
                                keeping it in a safe state.
Advertisement  ....  Campaigns reminding us to drive safe, don't drink and drive.

CARE OF THE DYING


As the population ages caring for the dying continues as a priority of our death system. We move from cure mode, to care mode of comfort, of palliation and the declining of death. Our ability to understand the value, and meaning expressed by the dying is distorted by our values.

DISPOSING OF THE BODY

Method of disposal of the body differs between and within Cultures.

Funeral or Last Rites ........Community expression of its relationship to that of  the
                                           deceased.
SOCIAL CONSOLIDATION AFTER DEATH

Death can shatter our assumptive world, what is normally expected to be true may no longer be relevant. The death system either fosters or thwarts this integration.

Emotional Support ........ Consolation, Encouragement and Empathy
Practical Support ..........  The doing of tasks and provision of services
                                       re-establishment and define  person hood.       
Information Support ......   Feedback allows the Bereaved to engaged in reality.
                                        Testing, modifying andestablishing new cognition's,
                                         expectations behaviours and emotions congruent
                                        with new roles.

MAKING SENSE OF  DEATH

One of the questions we all ask our selves is " Why?".  How  can this happen? making sense of death is to discover some reason or purpose, what has death served. The urgency of making sense of death is intensified when death is
Traumatic:
a. Sudden
b. Unexpected
c.  Violent
d. Mutilating
e. Involves Children.

People with Developmental Disability

The task of Their Grief   Part 5

Conclusion:

It is important that people with Developmental  Disabilities be given the right to participate fully in the grief and   mourning process, and in all of the systems, and rituals associated with their loss. We must understand however, that signs of grieving will not show right away but it is present, it is the care providers responsibility that they take the time to explain what has happened to a love one, a peer, a staff or pet that died.

To make their grieving process easy we the care provider need to reassure them that someone will always be there to help them with their time of grieving. Guidelines should be put in place, where it can be helpful not only for the individual with the developmental disabilities, but also the care provider, this will make it a much smoother transition in helping the individual.

Bereavement Counseling for persons with developmental disabilities should be made available and not just when a maladaptive reaction has been recognized as grief. It may be very helpful that both individual and group work with the bereaved particularly nonverbal be approached with care when doing grief work. The use of counseling picture books will be most helpful in this situation.

It is unfortunately that there are no Bereavement Counselors helping the individuals with developmental disabilities it goes to shown that society is forgetting that these individuals are also human being and is part of the whole picture that help make our society forgotten or not.

They also live in the community and lead productive lives, it may not be to society's standards but they enjoy life to the fullest just like you and me. It is time that they do share in all rituals that are in the community, when someone they know dies, provider's, family members and guardian must must give them the opportunity to make the choice whether they  would like to be included in the whole death system.

By giving them the opportunity to grieve / mourn it will ease the behaviours of the individuals with  developmental disabilities, which will make the grieving and mourning process much easier. We must remember that it is our duty as Bereavement Counselors to help the individual developmental disabilities as much as possible , so that they can return to their normal day to day activities without disruptions in their lives.