One of the aspects of working in a nursing home is the reality that residents who we have come to love over an extended period of time (and who have become part of our family) will sometimes pass away.
We all have our individual destiny and none of us play God. There is a plan for each and every one of us and we all have an allotted time on this earth.
I am always humbled by those families who display true emotion, remarkable courage and genuine humanity during these most trying times. There is always a period of grief and we share in their pain and cherish the memories of their dearly departed loved ones.
Periods of grief and mourning has a way of bringing out the best in people. At the same time, there are those who utilize these moments to display the opportunistic expressions of the basest in human behavior. They see the death of a loved one as an opportunity to capitalize financially, to inherit an estate etc.
I was discussing this yesterday with a colleague and expressed my amazement at observing these two very opposite reactions and duly noted the power of something like death to elicit such emotions on either end of the spectrum.
The fact is people do very different things with Mom or Dad’s “stuff” upon their passing. I was reading a very interesting article published in today’s online edition of the New York Times, about a daughter whose Mom passed away and left her a collection of 700 dolls, worth upwards of $35,000! She writes about how she vacillated back and forth regarding what to do with this collection.
A fascinating read with valuable insight to be gleaned.
