On death and dying--Sarah Sampson

In class, we discussed the meanings of death.  We can personify death as a troll, a grim reaper, and a skull and cross bones.  We also discussed how that, to say somebody "died" is taboo and insensitive to the heaviness of the word.  We know that words carry this exotic force that have different meanings with every utterance, every reception.  The person's subjectivity will determine how they perceive what was said.  Many people think of death as a negative happening.  A person that we love is lost forever, taken from us by some inexplicable shadow, never to return again.  Nietzsche, on the other hand believes that death is in one's best interest, that life on this planet is inherently awful.  But none of the living have ever actually experience death.  How does Nietzsche know that death will be better?  What if he is reborn into another human or into another Twin Earth as the same person in a far away galaxy?  We might feel its side effects, but until we go, we won't know.  That's what makes this life so uncertain.  We can talk about death and we can postulate what we think will happen, but we can never be absolute.  Its scary.  We don't know when or how or why we are going to croak.  All we know is that it will happen eventually.  At least in the critique and acceptance of art, we may refer to others in their likes and dislikes of what is certainly beautiful to them.  But we can't ask dead people what its like to die.  Or can we?  There are some mediums who claim to be able to contact the dead.  Who are we to write these people off?  If somebody thinks a urinal signed R. Mutt is worthy to be displayed in a museum, then who is to say that a person cannot be in contact with the other world?  The bottom line is this: we can never be inside somebody else's head.  We don't know what its like to die, but we also can't see clearly through anybody else's eyes but our own.  So how do we make sense of this world through only one absolute perspective complete with feelings, thoughts, emotions, experiences, encounters, relationships, and sensory concepts?

And another thing I am curious about: we have these phrases "kick the bucket" and "croak" and "another one bites the dust." Why?  Is it to make light of the situation?  To put humor in something that can be and usually is traumatic for loved ones of the deceased (and probably the one who died if there is a conscience after death)? These are just the opposite of what is sensitive to a person's loss.  I think these one-liners should be included in what is considered taboo when speaking of death.  And when does it become inappropriate to find humor?  These phrases alone say to me that we are trying to ease the situation with comic relief.  If we can laugh at death, can we laugh at anything???