TITLE OF ARTICLE: Dealing with death in your youth
AUTHOR: Jessica Lim
PUBLISHER: The Straits Times
DATE: 25th February 2008 (Monday)
One who is a youth is very prone to falling apart when he encounters the terrible face of death – something that everybody does not like, but everyone will have to experience it. The article might seem to be directed at youths only, but it encompasses the issue of dealing with death in general. The word ‘youth’ is definitely too ambiguous. Even though the writer attempts to offer points of view from different people, there is only one point of view in this article: that of the writer. Due to the single point of view of the author, assumptions like “All people find it hard to deal with death” are made, just because the author herself feels that way. Emotional distress caused by death is acknowledged. The article starts off with an example of youths grieving over actor Heath Ledger's death, and issues such as the degree at which youths grieve over peoples' deaths start branching out from this main point, providing an insightful look into the issue of dealing with death.
I personally find this article to be quite interesting. Not many people want to discuss about the impact of the natural cycle of death on their loved ones or their friends. As stated in the article, the writer took two years to get over her father’s death. If it takes a 22-year old person two years to put her father to rest, what about a teenager? If a teenager encounters death among his family, would he be able to accept it? I think not. A teenager’s mind is less developed than a mind of an adult. While going through adolescence, certain issues or solutions to cope with emotional distress such as “emo” tend to slap youths in the face much harder than adults. One might ask why this is so.
In my opinion, youths definitely have a much narrower mindset than their parents, and they tend to go for the path which can help them to cope with distress in the easiest way. The time needed to get over a death might seem too long to teenagers, especially with the prolonged pain and suffering over the loss of someone close to the heart. Shock, denial, and maybe even guilt are feelings that pop out over time, and can easily overwhelm a mere teenager. Adults definitely experience the same feelings as a teenager when they encounter the ugly face of death, but they cope with it differently. If one misses a relative who has died recently, the bond between him and his relative is still there. Based on the writer’s opinion in the article and in my opinion, adults can break this bond more easily than youths, especially teenagers. Youths are at a stage of growth where the issue of death usually does not affect most youths. Affected youths are unable to handle the situation adeptly as they have no one to talk to about the topic. Adults, whereas, are “mature” enough to know how to handle these situations appropriately.
AUTHOR: Jessica Lim
PUBLISHER: The Straits Times
DATE: 25th February 2008 (Monday)
One who is a youth is very prone to falling apart when he encounters the terrible face of death – something that everybody does not like, but everyone will have to experience it. The article might seem to be directed at youths only, but it encompasses the issue of dealing with death in general. The word ‘youth’ is definitely too ambiguous. Even though the writer attempts to offer points of view from different people, there is only one point of view in this article: that of the writer. Due to the single point of view of the author, assumptions like “All people find it hard to deal with death” are made, just because the author herself feels that way. Emotional distress caused by death is acknowledged. The article starts off with an example of youths grieving over actor Heath Ledger's death, and issues such as the degree at which youths grieve over peoples' deaths start branching out from this main point, providing an insightful look into the issue of dealing with death.
I personally find this article to be quite interesting. Not many people want to discuss about the impact of the natural cycle of death on their loved ones or their friends. As stated in the article, the writer took two years to get over her father’s death. If it takes a 22-year old person two years to put her father to rest, what about a teenager? If a teenager encounters death among his family, would he be able to accept it? I think not. A teenager’s mind is less developed than a mind of an adult. While going through adolescence, certain issues or solutions to cope with emotional distress such as “emo” tend to slap youths in the face much harder than adults. One might ask why this is so.
In my opinion, youths definitely have a much narrower mindset than their parents, and they tend to go for the path which can help them to cope with distress in the easiest way. The time needed to get over a death might seem too long to teenagers, especially with the prolonged pain and suffering over the loss of someone close to the heart. Shock, denial, and maybe even guilt are feelings that pop out over time, and can easily overwhelm a mere teenager. Adults definitely experience the same feelings as a teenager when they encounter the ugly face of death, but they cope with it differently. If one misses a relative who has died recently, the bond between him and his relative is still there. Based on the writer’s opinion in the article and in my opinion, adults can break this bond more easily than youths, especially teenagers. Youths are at a stage of growth where the issue of death usually does not affect most youths. Affected youths are unable to handle the situation adeptly as they have no one to talk to about the topic. Adults, whereas, are “mature” enough to know how to handle these situations appropriately.
500 words.
