SAYING GOODBYE
I've only know three people who have died. The first person was my grandmother. When she went to the hospital with advanced leukemia, I wasn't allowed to go visit because of my age. I never got to say goodbye to her. The other two were Khristian Oliver and Larry Matthew Puckett. These two men both knew the exact date and approximate time of their deaths because they were executed by the state of Texas and the state of Mississippi. I met Khristian Oliver the day before the state of Texas executed him. The next day, I went to tell him goodbye and I was at a loss for words. I wrote an essay about him called Surrender, which was published in Ten Spurs, but you can read about my experience here on Smith Magazine's, The Moment.
With Matt Puckett, I had to say goodbye in a letter, which was rather difficult to compose.
I had a conversation via Twitter with a fellow A to Z challenge participant about social media and grieving. I think we both agreed that it is useful when a public figure such as a musician dies so that their fans can share memories and console each other, but I can't help but think about sites such as Facebook when the loss is personal. There's an interesting article from Time about grieving and Facebook.
And here's another interesting article about what happens when you die (simmer down now) on your social media accounts after you die.
What do you think about Facebook and grieving? Do you think it's cool for someone to post "My mom just died" or "I have three months to live." Should these things be kept off social media? Tell me your thoughts...