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Just Say It Already!

It’s okay to say they died!

Terry L. Cooper
3 min readAug 14, 2020
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

He’s passed on.

He’s passed away.

He’s gone home to be with the Lord.

He’s no longer here with us.

He’s gone.

He didn’t make it.

He’s crossed over.

He’s in a better place now.

He’s no longer suffering.

Why can’t we simply speak the truth? “He died.” Period. “He died.” Why is that so hard? Who are we protecting? The survivor(s)? No. If we’re going to be honest about it we’re saving ourselves. As if saying the word dead or died will keep the pain away. Calling death something does not help anyone no matter how sincere you might be. Death is a part of life no matter how much we may think that it sucks. Face it; we all begin the dying process the moment we take our very first breath.

I’m not the kind of person to hug a chair and call it a tree. If it’s a chair it’s a chair. If it’s a tree then it’s a tree. People need to hear the blunt truth. Otherwise, you’re feeding into their grieving delusion that the truth can be negotiated.

“He’s in a better place now.” Better than being at home with people who love him? What a crock. “He’s no longer with us.” Did he get lost coming back from the…

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