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Whenever I think of our society's relationship with death I remember a documentary I once saw about an aid worker who travelled with a nomadic tribe in Africa f
by mtrimpe 14y ago
Whenever I think of our society's relationship with death I remember a documentary I once saw about an aid worker who travelled with a nomadic tribe in Africa for a while.
During her stay one of the tribe's elders decided she had had enough and told the tribe so. They started their ritual and held a feast for a day or two where everybody peacefully said goodbye to the old woman and on the morning of the third day the tribe moved on and left the old woman behind in the desert to die in peace.
However the aid worker couldn't accept this. The woman was still alive! She could go on for at least a few more weeks, maybe even months! So she frantically ran back to the tribe pleading with them to let the old woman live. The tribesman were confused and tried to calm the aid worker down. It was all good! They had said goodbye and she had led an amazing life!
When it became clear she couldn't convince the tribe of the error of their ways, the aid-worker went back to the old woman and stayed with her to comfort her until she passed away.
The aid worker never realized that she was the one being comforted.
- euroclydon 14y agoHow was she being comforted? By gaining a new perspective on death? I'm not sure that, if I were the tribe woman, I would have wanted this aid worker around in my final weeks.
- mtrimpe 14y agoThe last 'she' was the aid worker, who was indeed being comforted by the tribe woman in her last moments. I've edited it for clarity.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- dhaivatpandya 14y agoThe tribe woman was perfectly fine and wasn't worried about death. The aid worker was the person who was anxious and worried.
- hosh 14y agoA last gift while in this body, awesome :-)
- wr1472 14y agoSounds interesting. What's the name of the documentary?
- mtrimpe 14y agoIt was an episode of a Dutch documentary series from over 5 years ago so I don't think I'd be able to find it.
- miles 14y ago"I don't think I'd be able to find it" Rather ironic comment, coming from the technical founder of VideoView ;-) Seriously though, many thanks for sharing that story - it illustrates just how far advanced some cultures are about death and dying. Western Civ seems incredibly immature in this regard by comparison. If you (or anyone else reading this) can offer any more details about this series or episode, by all means please share!
- mtrimpe 14y agoWe're still working on automated transcription for VideoView so I'm afraid I can't search for key phrases like I would normally do ;) For the Dutchies who might be able to help; it was from a show at least 5 years old but maybe even 10 about 'liefdadigheidswerkers' who travelled to other countries. I think it was on SBS6, but definitely one of the commercial stations.