The "Last Great Taboo": the rise of Thanatophobia in the United States and how we can deal with it

Our relationship with death in the United States has changed dramatically since the nineteenth century. With the rise of modern technology as well as modern medicine, we as a society have become very disconnected from death. As a result of this as well as the notion that death is “un-American,” we have become very fearful of death (Samuel x). While it may seem that our relationship with death in the United States is too far gone to worry about fixing, there are things that we can do to repair our relationship with our mortality. By adopting the tenets of the death positivity movement and choosing more eco-friendly alternatives to death care, as well as listening to people from non-death-denying cultures, we can make our relationship with death a bit more positive, and also begin to better understand and appreciate the natural cycle of life.