On Death and Dying, an ode to Mortimer Bigglesworth the First

My medical forays have taken me through an assemblage of experiences both academic and ultimate, books tell us the routine physiological functions that hold the delicate balance of homeostasis in place, the pathological invaders that attempt to disrupt said homeostasis and how to destroy them, what goes where and how that gets there.

Our superiors tell us how to interact with patients, how to treat them, both medically and professionally, how to smile and nod until they are discharged in the mild cases, how to press on and stand by them and their loved ones in the severe cases and how to tell them they're going to die in the hopeless ones.


In 1969, the Kübler-Ross Model, commonly referred to as the five stages of grief, was introduced in the book Death and Dying, Kübler-Ross goes on to say that there are five fundamental stages to any grieving process, specifically death, that any individual essentially must go through, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and ultimately, acceptance.

Lenny's dog recently died, Lenny has no Cheetos in his home, Lenny is upset, how will Lenny react?

The "Everything's alright"s and the "I couldn't be better"s are what Lenny will chirp and coo in the initial phase of his grieving process.
Lenny will put up a stubbornly proud forefront to convince others that the death of his dog did not have him contemplate suicide or abuse pain medication whilst hiding his true, ever hoarding emotion.

Denial is a mask that hides aforementioned emotion, after extended periods of lying to himself and others, the emotional buildup leads Lenny to implode into the next phase of grievance, anger.
Directly proportional in duration to denial, the anger phase of grievance is essentially venting all that Lenny left to hoard, in this phase, an immense surge of helplessness and rage flood Lenny, hurtful requests such as "Go fuck yourself" or "Eat a dick" could be made by Lenny to family and close friends, none of which are literally meant.

Anger is a draining emotion, mentally and physically, when all is said and done in the anger department, Lenny will drop to his knees and address the higher powers in an attempt to bargain with them with what irrelevant chips he has at hand, in this phase, Lenny realizes his fear of meeting a similar fate to his dog, or having to go through this painful grieving process again for whatever reason.
Things like "I'd give my left nut to have him back" or "Let it be me next time" are all seemingly seductive offers provided by Lenny to the higher ups, resulting in a fruitless wait for an answer he does not truly expect, lobbing Lenny into the next phase.

When no one heeds Lenny's call, he slumps into fetal position and remains stagnant there in bitter defeat, "What's the point?" and "Why bother?" are fearless on Lenny's breath as depression blankets him in what is theorized to be the longest of the five stages.
The cul de sac of hope and all things contented, the depressed typically present with fatigue, lethargy, hopelessness, regret and more often than not, hate.
A disgustingly tight feeling in Lenny's chest will burden him for an embellished period of time until rising into the fifth and final phase.

Like a broken phoenix from ashes, Lenny learns that crying over milk that hath been spilled will only hinder progress and cripple intuition.
Lenny has grasped that death is an inevitability and plateau-ing in a state of melancholy will only seal his fate amongst the socially, mentally, physically and universally irrelevant.
Lenny has found that remaining in the torpid limbo of what has happened and what will happen only pessimistically veil what's happening now.
Lenny has found that there is naught he can do but accept, experience and push on for the better.

Lenny hath found acceptance.



"And were your back as broad as heaven, and your purse full of gold, and did your compassion reach from here to hell itself, there is nothing you can do." - Alan Paton (Cry, the Beloved Country)-->