Death and beyond..

During the second half of the semester, we all heard the tragic news that one of the freshmen had committed suicide. When I got the email, I was shocked and felt sorry for him, his friends, and his family. Since I did not know him personally, I did not think to associate his death to my personal life. However, after I came to class, my initial opinion on the matter was changed. I felt I was more connected to him than I originally thought and began to see a deeper connection about his death.

Guru seemed very sad and started talking about the student’s death during class. That gave us an opportunity to discuss about not just his death, but different views of death and ways of coping with it. In Western society, good memories of the person are emphasized and people try to let the person go with suppressed emotions. However, in Eastern society, people express the full emotions for the tragedy and try to have more time together even though the body is dead. When I went to my grandmother's funeral, most people were crying and it was socially acceptable and rather expected. I felt in Eastern cultures, death is viewed as a negative thing and has a more significant meaning to society as a whole because society pays for the cost of the funeral and so on. This is related to the concept of Banjar that Guru stressed during the course. He said that a real community helps each other whenever they need each other.

Also, we talked about the communication and the attention one gives to another. The tragedy could have been prevented if people paid close attention to him. He wrote depressing posts and comments and sent sad text messages. People did not take this seriously and just took it as a form of complaining and nothing seriously. He maybe just needed a person to talk to that offered to help. It reminded us how important communication is.

I was glad that we discussed this matter. I knew for sure that there are people who care about me and there are people who are willing to listen to me and help me as a member of banjar. Theatre 334 was more than an academic course. It gave me a feeling of comfort as family does. I thank Guru and all of my classmates who were engaged in the class.