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 To see life and death 
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I asked this question to my discussion group Thursday and became curious about the rest of the class. I am not looking for drawn-out gruesome stories, rather I am curious about the thoughts and reflections of individuals who have been introduced to these scenarios.

Have you ever watched someone or something die? (I am talking bigger than insects and spiders, a fish would count though, if you actually watched it die)

If yes, were you the reason it was dying?

Have you ever watched something be born? (yes, I mean you watched everything or even helped deliver)

Did any of these event(s) change how you look at life?

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Sun Mar 29, 2009 6:12 pm
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I asked this question to my discussion group Thursday and became curious about the rest of the class. I am not looking for drawn-out gruesome stories, rather I am curious about the thoughts and reflections of individuals who have been introduced to these scenarios.


I have watched someone die. I've actually watched people die slow and painful deaths...cancer, aids, ect. and this Christmas, I had the pleasure of watching my 9 year old yellow lab Daisy die. Watching her die was excruciating. I know she was only a dog, but she was good. I kinda freaked after....post traumatic stress. I would wake up in a cold sweat and think my other dogs were dead if they weren't moving too much!

I was not the reason any of them died. Each time the way I look at life has been changed. I have become more bitter, yet I am not proud of that. I worked with aids patients in NYC every summer for a few years, but I finally quit because it became too hard to watch friends die. Nice people, young people die.
I have watched my sister be born, and it made me happy. I had been through a lot of struggles in my life, and I think it made me softer. And two years ago I helped my dog while she had four puppies. My outlook on life was a lot more optimistic and positive during the births than the deaths.

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Jessica Layne Caldwell


Thu Apr 02, 2009 8:30 pm
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I was hoping for more response than I have recieved, but I guess I will share my own experiences to maybe prod some people along.
The first time I actually watched something die was when I was about 16 years old. At the time I was farming pecans (nuts) which squirrels love to eat. So of course, I had a huge problem with squirrels getting into my harvest. Finally, I decided that I would just shoot them to get rid of them. The first one that I shot with my Daisy pellet gun did not die immediately, so I had to go right up to it and end its suffering that I had brought upon it. At that moment something changed in me. This was something that I had seen in movies all the time and heard stories from my friends and family who hunt, but to actually live at that moment and know that I had taken that life was not an easy idea to live with at first. It did however make me realize how precious the gift of life is and that we only have one human life to live on Earth and that when it is gone, it is for good.
As for watching something be born, my experience is the same as Jessica's, where I had the chance to watch my girlfriend's boxer give birth to 9 puppies that all lived. This experience allowed me to see just how marvelous life is to reproduce the way that it does. To see newborn puppies just out of the mother's womb taught me once more just how intelligently we all have been designed and that we are not here on Earth by mere chance.

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Wed Apr 22, 2009 8:30 pm
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Growing up my family lived on a lake. I was somewhere around the age of 7 and I used to fish a lot off the dock. I would always catch and release, the fish were too small to do anything else with. One time I caught on and had trouble getting the hook out of it's mouth and when I did get it out, it started to bleed much more than normal. I know this can't compare to anyone watching a loved one die, I am fortunate to have been too young to remember when some of my grandparents went. But I remember being scared, when I took that hook out and saw that little bit of blood. I quickly put the fish back in the water (I thought that would help) and remember just watching it sink to the bottom. I really did not remember that event until now, but I remember feeling very sad that a harmless act of fishing, that I used to do a lot, had harmed a living thing. I know that it was the age that made me feel that way. Especially being a boy we are socialized into being tough and not letting those things bother us. Thinking back I know it made me appreciate the life of smaller things which, over time, has influenced my other life events to shape me into being accepting of all life, even of people that others may view as unacceptable.

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Drew O'Keefe


Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:47 pm
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Yes, in the recent year, I have watched my grandmother die for 5 days, I also lost my other grandmother, my 23 year old cousin died, and my mom was diagnosed with cancer. Most definitely this has changed my outlook on life. I now try to see the positive about everyday in my life, I do not take one day for advantage. These events in my life has renewed my faith in God. Without my faith, I would nothing to live for. This is what gives me hope for a brighter tomorrow.

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Dustin King


Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:14 pm
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When I was in 3rd grade, I watched my beloved dog Jack die a violent death. He was poisened by someone, which we never figured out who, but we had a dog hater in our neighborhood so we suspected the dog hater, but of course, we couldn't prove it was him. I watched him die and I was completly paralyzed with fear and shock. I was at home by myself with no parents around to tell me what was going on, so I ran to one of my neighbors. It was a bad experience for me, and since then I've lost various other pets to natural deaths, like old age and I hated watching that too because there was nothing I could do for them. I've had 2 grandparents die, one of cancer, one of renal failure, and since they were sick for a while, I at least got to say goodbye. Death is a scary thing, and I know I'm going to see it more and more. Hopefully, I will have the same opportunity to say goodbye to my family when it comes their time to pass.

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Jessey Pace


Thu Apr 23, 2009 10:55 pm
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