RE: virus: Angels or what?

TheHermit (The@Hermit.net)
Fri, 4 Dec 1998 20:37:53 -0600

Why not tell them the truth. Use the metaphor of a toy to explain it in
terms they can comprehend. Tell them that we can be damaged (broken) or grow
old and die (like a battery running down). Then explain that it is not
anybodies fault (a frequent problem area with children is that they think
they might have something to do with the person "going away"). Tell them
that it is alright to feel sad when somebody dies, but that death is
necessary part of being a living creature. Tell them that being alive is
good, but that sometimes dying is not bad. Make sure that there is closure.
That they know that the person will not be coming back. Explaining that it
is what we leave behind, in the memory of others that is important, and that
this is one reason why we build memorials to people sometimes helps. Why
tell children lies? What is the point?

And animism is as bad as any other irrational, unjustifiable belief. Once
you "accept" one thing by "faith" you cannot any longer claim to be
"reasonable". That has far worse implications than any "harshness" which
might be implied by truth. And truth cannot be qualified. "Secular truth"
does not exist. According to one's perspective, either something is "true"
or it is "false". Of course, that ignores reality and pretends that we can
unfuzz the inherent grayness of the universe :-)

I would suggest that a thorough basing in reality is vastly more important
for any child than any amount of "comforting", and might lead to a reversal
of the growing "new-ageianist" tendency to regard the world as an irrational
and non-understandable environment.

TheHermit
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-virus@lucifer.com [mailto:owner-virus@lucifer.com]On Behalf Of
Joe Strickland
Sent: Friday, December 04, 1998 7:52 PM
To: virus@lucifer.com
Subject: Re: virus: Angels or what?

Try telling the child that the relative is still alive, but just in a
different body, such as that of an animal, tree, etc., but it is impossible
to know which one. This is an acceptable explanation among mainstream
religions, comforting to the child, and cannot be disproved by the child. Of
course, you run the risk of the child growing up to be an Animist, but
personally I see little wrong with that. You could even plant a tree to be
the relative's new body or something to that effect (not a pet though,
because then it will die and you will have the same situation all over
again).

--Joe Strickland