#aplang15readingthework

[alissasmith5]

Secondary Works Conclusion

After reviewing all of my secondary works and comparing them to my primary source, it seems as if an extremely small portion of America actually accepts death like Morrie in my book. All of the secondary works explain how America runs away and remains in denial about death. While other countries embrace the natural act of death, we run away hoping to avoid it. In order to live a great life, we need to embrace death; knowing that it will eventually happen. This way, we can experience life to its fullest and pass on all our lessons to others. The one question I have is that if the majority of Americans believe in after life, why do we fear it? Perhaps because we fear unknown change?

[alissasmith5]

Secondary Works Part 8

http://www.academia.edu/256719/Death_and_culture_Views_on_death_from_across_the_border

This is an article from a college student analyzing the views of death in Mexico. Here, death is celebrated and embraced, not feared or ignored. This is a great way to put the American way of ignoring death into view. Mexico has a day devoted to celebrating death, while we mourn in silence and refuse to accept reality. I believe this shows how foolish we can be. Death is normal and we should accept everything about it. This will allow us to face life and not live in fear. 

[danny-vincent-aplang]

More Secondary Sources

http://courageousstate.com/  

The source listed above is a political website that relates the principles of the American government and principles our country was based on. I am going to relate actions taken by the government good or bad, and how they effect society today. I believe many of the situations will be shocking to my audience and my presentation will give them a more accurate outlook of the society the live in. It is a great source to refer back to when thinking about the interests of our founding fathers and how much Amwerican government has changed over time. 

[alissasmith5]

Secondary Works Part 7

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/our-unrealistic-views-of-death-through-a-doctors-eyes/2012/01/31/gIQAeaHpJR_story.html

This story/article is a key secondary example. We tend to avoid death, until it comes knocking at our door. Once death arrives, we have unrealistic expectations that doctors can heal everything. Unfortunately, this is not the case. We believe that modern medicine can "cure" death, when in reality there is no cure. We fear death and rely on others to suppress that fear. Death is a part of life that we will never completely understand or accept.

[alissasmith5]

Secondary Works Part 6

http://www.lifeintheusa.com/death/

This article is from the same website as the last one, but I feel this is a great continuation of my claim. The majority of Americans are in denial about death. Instead of embrace death as other cultures do, we choose to ignore the topic of death. Americans tend to keep everyone who died alive through memories, refusing to accept the fact that the person is actually dead. This can be a good and bad thing. This is great to keep the memories alive, but it is bad since we refuse to accept that death is real. Media tends to dramatize death, when in reality, death is not as glamorous as we believe. People tend to forget and move on in a few weeks, while others are affected their entire lives. Death is corrupted until we actually expierence it.

[alissasmith5]

Secondary Works Part 5

http://www.lifeintheusa.com/death/hushhush.htm

This article I found is one of my favorites. Americans seem to avoid talk about death, and use different terms like "kick the bucket" instead of just saying the word die. We are afraid to admit that we fear death because most feel that fear shows weakness. Instead, we place that fear in a box and ignore it until the day we die. I believe it is because we are in denial; we wish to stay young. 

[alissasmith5]

Secondary Works Part 4

"Already a topic few people like to talk about, death is especially alien to a generation priding themselves on thinking and acting young regardless of their age." (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/psychology-yesterday/201306/death-american-style)

This article brings up great ideas and conclusions on American's views of death, but this one quote I picked is very current and relateable. People seem to ignore death because they don't like to talk about it. Dangerous acts are regarded with the fact that "we are young", no matter what age we actually are. We constantly search for adrenaline in order to feel young and distant from death.

[alissasmith5]

Secondary Works Part 3

https://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/5-barna-update/128-americans-describe-their-views-about-life-after-death#.VOpJd_nF8qs

This is an article I found that displays the research of differing views Americans have on death. Surprisingly, most seem to have a more traditional view. With all that has changed in the world, most people still believe in the original stories from the bible. The majority of people interviewed believe in Heaven and Hell, but about 24% admit that they have no idea what will happen. While everyone has their own views, whether it be reincarnation or a certain religion, almost everyone belives in some type of afterlife.